National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has called a nationwide shutdown, Bharat Bandh on May 31 against petrol price hike.
The decision was announced by the NDA’s acting chairman and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani at the party’s national executive meet here.
“In the history of the country, there has never been such steep rise on a single day in the price of petrol,” Advani said.
“To protest against this arbitrary hike, the NDA has decided to organise a day-long peaceful protest, including a ‘bandh’, in the entire country on May 31,” Advani said, appealing to the people to make the shutdown successful.
In New Delhi, NDA convener and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) chief Sharad Yadav said that the shutdown was announced after consulting all allies.
“Government has washed his hands of the decision on price hike but in reality, it happens only when the government wants. The government will also be increasing prices of diesel and LPG (cooking gas) after the presidential elections get over,” he claimed.
BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said that after consultation with all the allies Advani on behalf of the NDA has announced that the opposition alliance will organise a bandh across the country in the wake of the “enormous” hike of petrol prices and the deep sense of anger among people.
The BJP appealed to the people to make the bandh a great success with Advani saying the hike is an “anti-people move” by the government.
Rejecting government’s argument that the hike has been effected by petroleum companies as the pricing of petrol stands deregulated, JDU Leader Sharad Yadav said, “This is an eyewash… We (NDA) are going to observe a ‘Bharat Bandh’ on May 31.”
Demanding a roll back, Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray said a Bharat bandh is “acceptable” to the party. Reports from different districts in Kerala said shops remained closed in cities and towns and private buses were largely off the roads. Private vehicles are plying and no violence has been reported from anywhere, police said.
Opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh including Telugu Desam, CPM and CPI and BJP staged protests in Vijayawada city and in towns in Krishna district. In Jammu, the city’s BJP unit led by district president Rajesh Gupta took out a protest march riding on the horse cart. Protests were also reported in Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Kanpur and Gurgaon.