New Delhi: The grand old party will be holding a series of protests against fuel price hikes in three phases in the coming weeks. The announcement was made by the General Secretary of AICC Randeep Surjewala after a meeting of General Secretaries and state in-charges held at the All India Congress Committee headquarters here on Saturday. The meeting was presided over by the party general secretary and in charge organization, KC Venugopal.
"People of India have been betrayed, duped, and deceived by the Modi government. After keeping the prices of petrol, diesel, gas cylinder, Piped Natural Gas (PNG) & CNG unchanged for 137 days to secure the votes of people, last one week has been nightmarish for every household. The daily increase in prices of petrol & diesel along with rising prices of gas cylinder, PNG & CNG has proved the dictum for Modi government-Fleece the People, Fill Coffers," said Randeep Surjewala while addressing the media after more than two hours meeting.
Comparing the fuel prices during the Modi government tenure with the prices during the UPA government, the Congress spokesperson further said that when BJP assumed power in May 2014, excise duty on petrol was Rs.9.20 per liter and on diesel was Rs. 3.46 per liter. In the last eight years, the BJP government has increased the excise duty on petrol by an additional Rs 18.70 per liter and on diesel by an additional Rs.18.34 per liter which is a shocking 531% hike. When the Congress-UPA government was in power, the price of crude oil was at US$ 108 per barrel, but petrol and diesel were sold at Rs 71.41 and Rs 55.49 per liter respectively, which have now been increased to Rs 98.61 and Rs 89.87 in Delhi. The Modi government has earned 26 lakh crores in eight years by increasing excise duty on petrol and diesel," he added.
To bring the issue of raising prices back into the limelight across India, the Congress party has decided to launch a series of protests in three phases named 'Mehhgai Mukt Bharat Abhiyan'. To begin with, on March 31, Congress leaders will protest outside their homes and public places by garlanding gas cylinders and beating drum-bells and other instruments to draw the attention of the deaf-BJP government against the increase in prices of Gas-Petrol-Diesel.
Between April 2 to 4, 2022, there will be district-level dharna and march, and on April 7, concluding the agitation, the protests will be organized at the all-state headquarters.
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