Trinamul on Monday started a 10-day protest against the failure of the Narendra Modi government to rein in fuel prices, the event coinciding with petrol price touching Rs 100 a litre in south Bengal districts such as Bankura, Birbhum, Purulia and Hooghly.
Bengal’s ruling party decided to counter the BJP’s growing support base by exposing the “anti-people policies of the Modi government”, and the protest against the rising fuel prices was an outreach in that direction, a Trinamul insider said.
In Bankura’s Raipur, Trinamul leaders rode on a dozen bullock carts and started a “dedicated route from Bankura to Calcutta and Bankura to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence in Delhi” in a mock gesture against fuel price rise.
“We brought out bullock carts to showcase the plight of rural commuters grappling with high fuel prices. With the price of petrol touching Rs 100 on Monday, taking out two-wheelers has become difficult. We will take the movement to various blocks of the district,” said Raju Singh, Trinamul youth president in Bankura.
Trinamul leaders in several south Bengal districts said the protest will fan out to places where the BJP did well in recent Assembly polls.
In Hooghly’s Pursurah, Arambagh and Khanakul, three Assembly seats where the BJP won, Trinamul workers met people who came to buy petrol.
“We started our movement from Pursurah today (Monday) and will hold protests elsewhere in Arambagh subdivision. We will tell people how the Modi government has increased people’s burden by pushing up fuel prices,” said Arambagh youth Trinamul chief Gopal Roy.
A Trinamul insider in Burdwan said the party had failed to convince farmers in Bengal about the dangers of the Centre’s contentious farm laws but wanted to drive home the point that rise in fuel prices would affect them directly.
“For example, the cost of farming will rise for those who depend on diesel-run submersible pumps,” he said, adding that diesel rate was hovering below Rs 93 per litre.
A Trinamul leader in East Burdwan said: “Farmers are feeling the impact of rising fuel prices. We are telling farmers that chief minister Mamata Banerjee was trying to help them with sops, but the Modi government is burdening them by hiking fuel prices.”
Apart from Trinamul, the CPM took out rallies in many Bengal districts to protest the hike in fuel prices.
CPM veteran Mohammed Salim led a rally in East Midnapore’s Egra while young party colleague Minakshi Mukherjee addressed a gathering in Haldia. In Birbhum’s Bolpur, CPM workers took out a protest with empty LPG cylinders and motorbikes to condemn the rise in fuel prices.
“Fuel price hike, along with the rising price of LPG cylinders, have hit the common man and woman hard. Our protests aim to create awareness against anti-people policies of the Centre,” said Goutam Ghosh, a CPM state committee member in Bolpur.
Virtual Martyrs’ Day
Trinamul secretary-general Partha Chatterjee said the party would, for the second year in a row, hold its annual Martyrs’ Day on July 21 virtually, in view of the pandemic situation. Last year was the first time Mamata Banerjee’s party held the event virtually.
Last year, she had promised a spectacular event — with likely participation from major players in the national Opposition — after the Assembly election victory. Trinamul did win, but in the wake of the devastating second wave she decided once again to have the event conducted virtually.
