People's Democracy

UPA Govt Must Heed Popular Protests

The Left parties – Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, All India Forward Bloc and Revolutionary Socialist Party – have issued the following statement on May 31, 2012.

THE people of India have registered a strong protest against the steep hike in the price of petrol.  At the call of the Left parties, there have been hartals, demonstrations, rasta and rail roko in all the states.

At the call of the Left parties and  other opposition parties, there was a bandh in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha.  In Tripura, at the call of the Left Front, there was a total hartal. In Kerala where a hartal was held the next day of the hike, a march to Raj Bhawan in Thiruvananthapuram and dharnas in all assembly constituencies were organised. In West Bengal, the Left Front organised protest marches all over the state.

In Tamilnadu, at the call of the  Left parties, hartal was observed in Coimbatore, Tiruppur and Kanyakumari.  There were demonstrations and picketing in other places.  In Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh also, there were protest demonstrations.  In Delhi, there was rasta roko held in various places and the national leaders of the Left parties courted arrest at the Delhi Gate.

The UPA government should heed these popular protests and rollback the price increase forthwith.