SURGING ANGER AGAINST PETRO HIKE

CPI(M) Spearheads Nationwide Protest

CHAKKA jam, rasta roko, rail roko, dharnas… all such forms of protest were utilised by the people through out the country to convey their anger to the government for its decision hiking the prices of petroleum products. Four Left parties – CPI(M), CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc – had given the call for a nationwide protest against this price hike on June 28. There were reports of sizeable protest actions not only in the Left strongholds of Bengal, Kerala and Tripura but also from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Bihar, Jharkhand, Punjab etc.

BENGAL

A very-well attended rally was held at the call of the Bengal Left Front on a rainy afternoon at the Rani Rashmoni Road crossing in central Kolkata on June 28. The rally formed a part of the ongoing programme of protests that is echoing around Bengal against the anti-people decision of the UPA government to increase the price of petroleum products.

Anil Biswas, secretary of the Bengal unit of the CPI(M) was the principal speaker at the rally. Biswas launched a wide-ranging attack on the move by the UPA government to increase the price of petroleum products, thus causing a further load of misery to descend on the shoulders of the common man.

Assailing this latest violation of the spirit and letter of the Common Minimum Programme (CMP), Anil Biswas said that the Congress-led UPA government in Delhi must never consider the Left support to be devoid of conditionalities.  The conditionalities, pointed out Anil Biswas, had innately to do with the safeguarding of the interests of the mass of the people.

Dubbing the Congress as the force to which the Left had and would stand opposed to, the CPI(M) leader declared that the Left had no desire to sit unarmed and defenceless on the coordination committee, the meetings of which it had correctly chosen not to attend since mere attendance was serving no effective purpose as far as the people’s interests were concerned. 

Anil Biswas also characterised the ‘breakfasts and luncheons that the Left were often asked to attend as pointless exercises since the political fall-out of these tête-à-têtes merely saw the Congress iterate its position and implement policy decisions, totally ignoring the Left’s point of view.

Citing statistics, Anil Biswas showed the validity of the alternative proposals that the Left had sent to the UPA government to avoid taxing the common man by hiking the fuel price.  The Congress-run UPA government ignored the Left’s advice.

Speaking on the necessity of launching and continuing with struggles and movements across the state as part of the all-India protest programme, Anil Biswas said that it had been through such movements that the Left could be in a position to reverse some of the most anti-people decisions of the UPA government, including privatisation of banking sector, reduction of EPF interest, and revision of the patents act. Only through movements could the Congress-led union government be made to see things in the correct perspective.

In building up a massive surge of movements, said the CPI(M) Polit Bureau member, the Left would welcome the democratic and secular forces within the UPA which had started to seethe at the manner in which the policy perspective of the Congress per se was being continuously thrust upon the UPA alliance.

While the Left would not ever go in for irresponsible moves that would warm the cockles of the BJP, it would certainly prevail upon Congress to stay away from the policy outlook of the BJP, something that would ultimately and inevitably result in the Congress facing the kind of isolation that the BJP now suffers from.

Other speakers at the rally, presided over by veteran RSP leader, Debabrata Bandyopadhyay, were: Prabir Deb (CPI), Prabodh Sinha (DSP), Mihir Byne (RCPI), Pratim Chatterjee (Marxist Forward Bloc), Moni Pal (WBSP), Sunil Chaudhuri (Biplabi Banga Congress).

Successful Transport Strike

Earlier on June 27, a sweepingly successful transport strike represented a phase of the stringent protest of the masses of the people of Bengal against the clearly anti-people resolve of the UPA union government to hike the price range of petroleum products.  The CITU-affiliated West Bengal Road Transport Workers’ Federation gave the call for the transport strike.  The Left TU’s supported the strike call.

The districts and the metropolis of Kolkata saw the thoroughfares and highways devoid of all kinds of commercial vehicles, be it buses, trucks, vans, taxis, auto-rickshaws.

The strike was preceded by an intense campaign throughout the state. The CITU leadership addressed rallies and a large number of marches were held throughout Bengal to make the people aware of the reason why the strike action had been decided upon. 

A big protest rally was held in the afternoon of June 27 under the aegis of the Road Transport Workers’ Federation.  Among those who addressed the rally were CITU leaders Shyamal Chakraborty, Mohd Amin, Subhas Chakraborty, Rajdeo Goala and others.

The Federation decided to organise a procession in protest of the petro-products price hike on the evening of June 29 in Kolkata.  The CITU decided that between June 29 and July 5, each factory will witness protest demonstrations organised. 

In this connection, a novel ‘e-mail jam’ programme has been undertaken by the CITU where each unit will send hundreds of e-mails to the petroleum ministry of the union government, effectively jamming the servers.

The Bengal Left Front has announced several programmes to register the people’s protests against the price hike of petroleum goods.  A small leaflet will be circulated among the people explaining the how the price hike could have been avoided. 

The first fifteen days of July will see all Left mass organisations organising campaign against the price hike in their own areas of activity.

(B Prasant)

DELHI

BREAKING the police cordon at several places, hundreds of activists of the Left parties in Delhi, joined the nationwide protest called by the Left parties against the massive hike in the prices of petrol and diesel by the UPA government.

It was an impressive rally with people from various walks of life who gathered near ITO and marched through the Bahadurshah Zafar Marg area blocking the road for over an hour before being water cannoned by the police.

Before the march began, the protestors were addressed by the leaders of the Left parties including CPI(M) Polit Bureau member M K Pandhe, CPI(M) MP Dipankar Mukherjee, CPI secretariat member D Raja, Forward Bloc leader G Devarajan, RSP leader Asit Ganguli  and CPI(M) central committee member Jogendra Sharma. CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat was among those who led the protest.

The speakers sounded a warning to the UPA government to halt its anti-people measures and not to take the Left support for granted.

This price hike, they said, came in the wake of three price hikes in petroleum products effected in the past one year and imposed an added burden on the people.  It will affect the farmers and increase the cost of living for those who rely on transportation for pursuing their daily work and activities. The price increase in diesel in particular will be inflationary and have a cascading effect on prices of all commodities, they felt.

The protesters did not agree with the justification provided by the government. The raise had already been affected during budget to the tune of 1.70 on petrol and Rs 1.15 on diesel per litre. Even the road cess was also increased by 50 paise at that time.

Raising slogans and expressing their anger, the protesters demanded immediate roll back of the prices and implementation of the alternative proposals given by the Left parties. They also called upon the UPA government to sincerely implement the Common Minimum Programme.

The protest echoed with a united call for:

•  Cancelling of the additional cess of 50 paise per litre for highways 

• Change in excise duty so that it does not lead to retail price hike

• Doing away with import parity in product price

• Formation of price stablisation fund to meet the fluctuation of global crude price with the cess collected on indigenous crude amounting to Rs 5400 crore per annum, and 

• Review of duty drawback payment to exporters of petroleum products by private refineries.

Militant protests were also reported from adjoining areas of Delhi like Ghaziabad, Saharanpur Chowk in Loni and GT Road in Modi Nagar. In Noida, several hundred CPI(M) workers blocked the traffic at Gol Chakkar Chowk. The protesters called upon the government to reverse its decision and take measures which can absorb the burden of the increased international oil prices.

 (S K Pande)

TRIPURA

Along with other states of the country, Tripura also registered a roaring protest on June 28 against the recent hike in the prices of petrol and diesel. At the call of the CPI(M), innumerable protest rallies, processions, dharnas  – small and big – were held all over the state. At the same time the TMSU, an affiliate organisation of All India Road Transport Workers Federation including the Auto Rickshaw Workers Union, TRTC Workers Union etc. called for a transport strike on the same day. With the spontaneous protest of the common people and all the vehicular traffic gone off the street, normal life in the state came to an absolute standstill.

The central protest rally was held at Sadar Divisional on Sakuntala Road in Agartala. It was addressed, among others, by CPI(M) state secretary Baidyanath Majumder and CPI(M) state secretariat member Manik Dey. They explained the perspective of the formation of the UPA government and how the Left was providing outside support on the main condition that the pro-people commitments made in the CMP be implemented. Baidyanath Majumder said anybody would be surprised to know that out of the Rs 2.50 hike effected in the price of petrol, Rs 2.20 is the excise duty, and in diesel it is Rs 1.16 of the Rs 2.00 hike. He said this exposed the fact that the hike had no link with the increase in the price of crude oil in the international market. Left parties made specific viable alternative proposals to avoid burdening the common people by such a price hike, which the government ignored.

Referring to the disinvestment in BHEL, Majumder reiterated that the CPI(M) would vehemently oppose any move to weaken the navaratnas. Criticising the UPA government for acting in contravention of the CMP, as was seen its approach towards the strategic sectors like bank, telecom, insurance, defense etc, the CPI(M) leaders it must not take the Left support for granted. “We will always side with the innumerable toiling masses, not the affluent few.” The rally was presided over by senior Party leader, Chitta Chanda. 

ANDHRA PRADESH  

ON the call given by the Left parties, protesting against the recent hike in prices of petrol and diesel and demanding its withdrawal, the CPI(M) conducted rasta rokos all over the state on June 28.  As per the latest information available, rasta rokos were held in all the district headquarters, 120 municipal towns and hundreds of Mandal centres.  Rail roko was conducted at Visakhapatnam, Nellore, Cuddapah and Anantapur. 

In the state capital Hyderabad, in the rasta roko held at a major centre of RTC X Roads, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member B V Raghavulu, central committee member Koratala Satyanarayana and  state secretariat member Y Venkateswara Rao, assistant secretary of the CPI state council K Narayana and state secretariat member Aziz Pasha participated.

Addressing the people who participated in the rasta roko, Raghavulu criticised the UPA government for acting against the common minimum programme and warned that the CPI(M) was prepared to fight for redressal of the problems of the people.  He explained that there was no justification in hiking the prices of petroleum products in the country based on the international prices of a select basket of fuels and that the present hike was unwarranted.  The burden of tax  of 50 per cent on petrol and 35 per cent on diesel imposed by the government of India was unbearable. Handing over blocks of natural gas and petroleum products to big corporate companies, the government was working under their tutelage, criticised Raghavulu. Coinciding with the price hike, the state government also increased sales tax on these products, imposing additional burden of Rs 50 crore on the people of the state, he criticised.  Narayana also addressed the gathering.

On the day when the price hike was announced by the government of India and the next day also, the CPI(M) conducted state wide demonstrations on a large scale, protesting against the hike. P Madhu, Rajya Sabha member of the Party, participated in the protest demonstration held in Hyderabad. There was good response from different sections of the people all over the state to these  widespread protests.

On June ëy, the state committee of the CPI(M) organised a seminar on “Hike in Prices of Petrol and Diesel - Alternative Ways”  at Sundarayya Vignana Kendram.  Deputy leader of the CPI(M) in the Rajya Sabha Dipankar Mukherjee, B V Raghavulu and P Madhu participated in the seminar.  The seminar evoked keen interest in different sections of the people and the media as well.

 (M Venugopala Rao)

MAHARASHTRA

BRAVING torrential rains all over the state, thousands of people led by the CPI(M) and CPI took part in large demonstrations and road blockades at over 75 centres in 29 districts of Maharashtra on June 28, in accordance with the nationwide Left parties call to protest against the massive hike in petrol and diesel prices effected by the UPA-led central government. Mass actions took place in every single district where the CPI(M) has a presence. In some districts, leaders and activists of other Left and secular parties like the PWP, JD(S), SP, FB and Lal Nishan Party also joined these Left demonstrations. All these actions received excellent coverage in both print and electronic media throughout Maharashtra.

These statewide demonstrations, while condemning the steep hike in petroleum products, also propagated the alternative that had been repeatedly placed by the Left before the UPA regime to avoid such a price hike. They also specifically denounced the central government’s proposal to disinvest in navaratnas like BHEL, in flagrant violation of the Common Minimum Programme (CMP). The Left demonstrations criticised the pro-liberalisation and anti-people thrust of the economic policies of the UPA regime in several spheres and called for stringent implementation of the CMP. At the same time, these demonstrations also ridiculed the BJP, which during its stint in power, had not only hiked the price of petroleum products several times, but had also implemented the same retrograde economic policies directed against the people, leading to its sound defeat at the hustings last year. The June 28 demonstrations called upon the UPA regime to heed the warning of this experience.

In the state capital Mumbai, a militant demonstration was held for over two hours outside the Churchgate railway terminus in the heart of the business centre. The demonstration was led on behalf of the CPI(M) by its veteran leader Ahilya Rangnekar, state secretary Ashok Dhawale, state secretariat members Mahendra Singh, K L Bajaj, Krishna Khopkar, state committee members Sayeed Ahmed, Kishore Theckedath, Vivek Monteiro, Hemkant Samant, district secretariat members Ashok Banerjee, S K Rege, Sonya Gill, and on behalf of the CPI by its state council members Prakash Reddy and Sukumar Damle.

In Solapur city, over 1000 people conducted rasta roko actions at six centres in the city, nearly 900 of whom were arrested under the leadership of CPI(M) state secretariat member and MLA Narsayya Adam, state committee members Ravindra Mokashi, Allabaksh Patel and CPI leader R G Mhetras. In Kolhapur district, over 1000 people conducted rasta roko actions in six tehsil centres and they were led by CPI(M) state committee members Suryaji Salunkhe, Chandrakant Yadav and CPI national council member Govind Pansare.

Rasta roko actions and demonstrations were also conducted at several centres in the following districts: Nagpur, Wardha, Chandrapur, Gondia, Bhandara, Yavatmal, Amravati, Buldana in the Vidarbha region; Nanded, Hingoli, Parbhani, Beed, Jalna, Aurangabad, Latur and Usmanabad in the Marathwada region; Nashik, Nandurbar, Dhule and Jalgaon districts in the North Maharashtra region; Ahmednagar, Pune, Satara, Sangli (and the above mentioned Solapur and Kolhapur districts) in the Western Maharashtra region; and Thane and Raigad districts in the Konkan region. In all the above actions the CPI(M) participated in strength and almost all state secretariat and state committee members of the Party, along with the district leadership, took active part in the campaign and in the June 28 actions. Detailed reports from many of these centres are still coming in at the time of sending this report.

 (More reports from states will be carried in the next issue – Ed)