The Congress is planning to hold a nationwide protest against rising fuel prices in the country.
Taking a swipe at the Centre for the steep hike in fuel prices, the chief spokesperson of the Congress, Randeep Surjewala, said, "Hum Do Hamare Do, Diesel Nabbe Petrol Sau," adding that the BJP has become 'Bhayankar Janloot Party', terming the government as 'Petroljeevi'.
"The Congress has directed the state units to organise protests from the block level to the state level and then to the national level against the rising fuel prices," he said.
Congress General Secretary K.C. Venugopal has written to all the states regarding this, and Madhya Pradesh has called for a half-day 'bandh' on Saturday to protest against the rising fuel prices in the country.
Fuel prices spike across India
The Congress has been demanding withdrawal of taxes on petrol and diesel which the Centre has imposed in the last six years. "This in itself will reduce petrol price to Rs 61.92 per litre and diesel price to Rs 47.51 per litre. Every common Indian deserves this relief immediately," party leader Gaurav Vallabh said.
"In the last six years, the government has earned more than Rs 20 lakh crore by imposing additional excise duty on petrol and diesel. In May 2014, the international crude oil price was $108 per barrel and petrol was selling at Rs 71.51 per litre in Delhi, while diesel was selling at Rs 57.28 per litre. In Sriganganagar in Rajasthan, petrol price has shot up over Rs 100 per litre to Rs 100.49 a litre," Surjewala added.
Petrol and diesel prices have increased 22 times in 2021 with the two auto fuels increasing by Rs 6.17 and Rs 6.40 per litre, respectively, so far this year.
(With inputs from IANS)
