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Haryana Congress holds statewide protest against fuel price hike
Several party workers rode bullock carts to protest against the hike in fuel prices
The Haryana unit of the Congress on Monday held statewide protests against the hike in fuel prices, with party leaders saying it will put a burden the common people who are already facing hardships due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Haryana Congress president Kumari Selja led the protest in Karnal, which is chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s home constituency.
Several party workers rode bullock carts to protest against the hike in fuel prices. They reached the mini-secretariat to submit a memorandum to the Karnal deputy commissioner demanding an immediate rollback in the fuel prices.
Selja targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the NDA government at the Centre for increasing fuel prices despite a fall in the prices of crude oil.
“Despite international crude oil prices being at their lowest, the Centre, instead of passing on the benefits to the common people by lowering the prices, is constantly hiking fuel prices,” Selja said.
Accusing the government of charging hefty taxes on fuel she said, “We don’t want to talk about the ₹20 lakh crore economic package here but the government should tell us what have they done with ₹18 lakh crore revenue earned by imposing excise duty on fuel in the past six years.”
In Sonepat, Rohtak and Jhajjar, the protests were led by Rajya Sabha member Deepender Hooda. “While the country is battling the Covid-19 pandemic, the central and state governments are increasing fuel prices. The hike in fuel prices at the time of cultivation has increased farmers’ expenditure,” the Rajya Sabha MP said.
He also submitted memorandums addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the deputy commissioners of Rohtak, Sonepat and Jhajjar.
In Ambala, Mullana MLA Varun Mullana said that he has been waiting for the BJP leaders to come out shirtless and join their protests, clearly hitting out at health minister Anil Vij whose shirtless pictures are currently doing the rounds on social media. Vij, an MLA from Ambala Cantonment had once led a nationwide protest against the UPA government due to inflation and rising fuel prices.
SOCIAL DISTANCING GOES FOR A TOSS
Defying social distancing and wearing of masks, Congress leaders Kumari Selja, Virender Rathore, Shamsher Gogi and others were seen glued to the bullock cart during the protest march. Since the gathering was also a violation of the Union Home Ministry’s guidelines, hundreds of party workers took out a protest rally.
