People's Democracy

ORGANISED by the CPI(M)’s Delhi state committee, hundreds of men and women held a demonstration at Parliament Street on June 7 to protest against the hike in petrol and diesel prices by the central government.

The demonstrators were addressed, among others, by the CPI(M)’s state secretariat member Surajbhan Bhardwaj. He condemned the hike in petro prices as completely unjustified and said the move will spur inflation at the cost of the people. He debunked the government’s argument that increase in the international price of oil had made this hike inevitable. The extra costs from the rise in international prices could easily have been met by removing the Rs 1 per litre cess on diesel, imposed in 1998.

Besides this, withdrawal of the cess on the oil indigenously produced by the public sector would yield about Rs 5400 crore, which is enough to meet the costs of increase in international prices. Bhardwaj criticised the BJP-led central government that it has dismantled the administrative price mechanism (APM) and yet persisted with this cess. This is contrary to its promise to reduce duties on petroleum prices alongwith dismantling the APM, and amounts to defrauding the people.

The increase in prices of petroleum products is part and parcel of the government’s policy of looting the people through indirect taxation while giving hefty concessions to the corporate sector and multinationals. This cannot be accepted.

The demonstration ended with a call a call to take the campaign against the hike in prices of petroleum products to wider sections of the people.