Fuel price protest has mixed impact

New Delhi: A daylong protest called by the Left parties yesterday against the last week's fuel price hike saw a complete shutdown in parts of the country while it did not have much impact on the metros, including the national capital and Mumbai.

Leaders of the Left parties the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Communist Party of India (CPI), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and the Forward Bloc and its affiliated trade unions courted arrest in different parts of the country as they took out protest demonstrations and public rallies against an "unjustifiable and irrational" increase in the price of petrol and diesel.

Alternatives

The government last week increased the petrol and diesel prices by Rs4 (30fils) and Rs2 (15fils) a litre respectively to cut the losses of state-run oil marketing companies that have been hit hard by soaring global crude prices.

However, the CPI-M-led Left Front, which supports the Manmohan Singh government from outside, says the price hike could have been avoided if the government had implemented the alternatives it has suggested, including slashing customs and excise duties on crude imports.

The Communists-sponsored strike received support from regional parties like Uttar Pradesh's ruling Samajwadi Party, Assam's main opposition party Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the opposition party in Andhra Pradesh.

In the national capital, CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat, senior party leader Sitaram Yechury, CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan, RSP leader Abani Roy and Forward Bloc MP Debabrata Biswas courted arrest along with hundreds of supporters as they marched on the Jantar Mantar road.

"We have asked the government to cut the excise and custom duties to avoid a hike in fuel prices. They have not heard us," Karat said addressing the party activists.

"This hike is highly unjustifiable and irrational," he said.

Symbolic

While the protests brought life to a standstill in Left Front-ruled Kerala and Tripura, it was merely symbolic in the red bastion of West Bengal.

Security was stepped up at the Kolkata office of the state-run Indian Oil Corporation as Left Front supporters assembled outside its gates, waving red flags and placards.

A dawn-to-dusk strike in Kerala saw a virtual shutdown. Barring two-wheelers and private vehicles, public transport kept off the road, making it difficult for people to commute. While shops and commercial establishments downed their shutters, attendance in government offices was thin.

The universities in the state were forced to cancel various examinations.

Uttar pradesh

Ruling party criticises government

The recent hike in fuel prices provoked statewide protests in several parts of Uttar Pradesh yesterday with the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) criticising the central government's move.

The SP demonstrators detained trains and put up roadblocks in several towns. Except for Meerut and a few other places, the demonstrations remained peaceful and symbolic. The only common factor was frontal attack on the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.