The Congress will on Thursday hold a nationwide agitation against price rise, focusing on the application of Goods and Services Tax on items important for daily sustenance and the increase in the prices of domestic LPG.
On the day the price of domestic LPG cylinder was increased by Rs 50 and will cost Rs 1053 in the national capital, the principal opposition party hit out at the Narendra Modi government over the issue of price rise and announced its plans to hold a protest all over the country.
“Protests will be held in all districts all over the country with regard to GST being applied on items that are essential for everyday living. We will put pressure on the Modi government to take back the hike in the prices of petrol, diesel and LPG. We will have a nationwide protest tomorrow, and we will keep raising the issue on the streets and inside Parliament,” said Congress spokesperson Ragini Nayak.
“During his campaign for the Lok Sabha elections in 2014, PM Modi had made price rise a big issue. He had raised the slogan – 'bahut hui mahangai ki maar...'. However, under his rule, there has not been a single day when the common man has found any respite from back-breaking inflation,” she said.
Nayak said that during the time of UPA rule, the government used to buy crude oil at a higher price and sold it at a cheaper rate domestically, while the reverse was true now.
She said that as per an RTI revelation, as many as 3.49 crore people were unable to afford an LPG cylinder, and 42 per cent of Ujjwala beneficiaries were forced to back to chullahs. “A gas cylinder now costs Rs 1053 in the national capital. In remote areas, it would cost around Rs 1100, and even more in the black market. How many people can buy such an expensive gas cylinder? I want to tell the Prime Minister that to understand the pain of the people, one does not need a 56-inch chest but a beating heart,” she said.
Congress has sought to project Goods and Services Tax as having contributed to inflation and has been protesting against bringing essential items under the tax regime. Recently, on the fifth anniversary of the rollout of GST, the party fielded former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram to highlight how it has allegedly been people-unfriendly and has contributed to inflation besides infringing upon the rights of the states.
