Opposition join hands over Bharat Bandh

NEW DELHI: Most opposition parties on Sunday expressed support to the Bharat Bandh called by the Congress and Left Front over rising fuel prices in a showdown with the Modi government that has evaded a direct explanation to the non-stop rise in fuel prices.

While parties like the Janata Dalsecular (JD-S), Samajwadi Party (SP), DMK, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Maharshtra Navanirman Sena (MNS) backed the shutdown, the Left has also declared a nationwide hartal.

The Biju Janata Dal (BJD), a nonnda party, said although it was against the fuel price hike, it would not support the Bandh. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) took a similar stand in Delhi.

The Congress wants petrol and diesel to be brought under the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which would decrease the price “by Rs 15-18 per litre”. It also wants an immediate reduction in central excise duty and “excessive VAT” in states.

Congress leader Ajay Maken on Sunday said that close to “20 political parties” were taking part in the protest.

He said the Centre had earned Rs 11 lakh crore in the last four years through excise duty on fuel and this money was taken from the common man to fill the government’s coffers.

Issuing a joint statement on Friday, five Left parties including the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist-leninist)-liberation, RSP and Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) accused the Modi government of creating an economic crisis in the country while failing to stand by its electoral promise of recovering black money and creating employment.

Left Front Chairman Biman Bose called for a 12-hour strike from 6 am to 6 pm on Monday across West Bengal in support of the all India “protest hartal” and urged people in the state to make the protest a grand success.

Karnataka’s ruling JD-S announced it will support the daylong nationwide protest.