Fuel price hike: Wails from Left & Right, bandh on July 5

NEW DELHI: Efforts to convert the July 5 Bharat Bandh, being organised to protest against the Manmohan Singh government's decision to hike the

prices of petro-products, into a success have got a major fillip with almost the entire Opposition, including the Left parties and the BJP-led NDA, coming out in its support.



While the Left parties — CPM, CPI, RSP and the Forward Bloc — had on Monday announced their decision to hold protests across the country, BJP, the largest Opposition party, followed suit a day later, with party president Nitin Gadkari giving a call to the people to back the July 5 bandh. However, the project to present a united picture on the issue has suffered a setback with the RJD-LJP combine in Bihar and BSP refusing to pool their resources with the Opposition. Technically, they have been bracketed with parties which have extended outside support to the UPA government, but they too have decided to register their protest of the fuel price hikes, albeit separately.



While BSP will be holding protests across Uttar Pradesh on July 6, the RJD-LJP alliance has given a call for Bihar bandh on July 10. The Samajwadi Party, however, has decided to back the July 5 bandh being sponsored by the main Opposition parties.



The Opposition was confident of conveying a strong message to the Manmohan Singh government by capitalising on the "growing popular anger'' over the latest round of hikes. JD(U) president Sharad Yadav, who has taken the initiative of coordinating with the other opposition parties in presenting a unified picture on the issue, claimed that the July 5 agitation would, after the JP movement of the 1970s, be the first such instance of mass mobilisation."There has been no difference among the opposition on the issue of fuel price hike. Every party has condemned it and demanded a rollback,'' the JD(U) leader, who is also the NDA convenor, told newspersons here on Tuesday afternoon.



"Check prices or leave the chair (Dam roko ya gaddi chhoro), Price rise affects all communities (Hindu Muslim Sikh Isai, sabke ghar me hai mahangai -- will be the Opposition\'s slogans during the agitation,'' Mr Sharad Yadav said. Besides the four Left parties, AIADMK, TDP, Samajwadi Party, BJD, JD(S) and INLD have decided to call for a country-wide agitation on July 5.



The JD(U) chief downplayed non-inclusion of his party\'s name, as also that of the NDA, in the Left parties\' statement on the strike. BJP came out with a separate statement, making it clear that attempts to bring the entire Opposition on one platform was fraught with difficulties. ``There are so many internal contradictions in the country. But the issue of fuel price hike is a very serious issue. People\'s interest come before parties. It was necessary for all parties to come together so that people can express their anger over the issue,'' Mr Sharad Yadav said.



The Left leaders have said they were in discussions with some other "secular opposition parties" to join the protests, which will be held from 0600 hours to 1800 hours on Monday.



Attacking the Centre over the hike, Mr Sharad Yadav said that the government had ignored the county\'s interests and handed over it ``to the market.'' The BJP president too slammed the hikes while extending his party's backing to the July 5 protests. ``The price rise under UPA regime has been continuing unabated. The prices of items of daily use and consumption by common man have increased manifold, severely upsetting the household budgets. The recent hike in petroleum prices has further burdened the life of common man and made it much more difficult for him to make both ends meet,'' Mr Gadkari said in a statement issued here on Tuesday.
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