Rahul demands rollback in prices of fuel, leads protest against hike

Congress leaders and workers, led by Rahul Gandhi, staged protests in various parts the country on Thursday (March 31) demanding rollback of the steep hike in fuel prices over the last few days.

Describing the hike of LPG. petrol and diesel prices as unprecedented, Rahul said the common man is the most affected due to this.

“Our demand is that the government should control prices and stop raising petrol and diesel prices,” he said at a protest in Vijay Chowk in New Delhi. “We can see that petrol and diesel prices are climbing rapidly. The government is making thousands of crores from this. The Congress is protesting across the country against this price rise of petrol and diesel. The government has to stop doing this. It has to ensure that prices do not rise.”

Congress MPs, including Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, raised slogans against the government and sat on a dharna carrying placards with an overturned motorcycle and cooking gas cylinders placed in front at the protest site.

Petrol and diesel prices were on Thursday hiked by 80 paise a litre each, taking the total increase in rates in the last 10 days to ₹6.40 per litre. This is the ninth increase in prices since the ending of a four-and-half-month long hiatus in rate revision on March 22 in view of the assembly elections in five states.

This level of price rise in petrol and diesel has been unprecedented, Rahul said accusing the government of stealing the money from the poor and handing it over to industrialists. The Congress is also launching a week-long countrywide protest against inflation and rise in fuel prices.

Petrol, diesel price in metros

Rahul Gandhi recalled that he had predicted the price rise. In a jibe at the BJP, he had said that people should fill up their vehicle’s tanks before the election concludes as the Narendra Modi government would hike prices as soon as it’s over.

The government has however maintained that the rise in fuel prices was due to the war in Ukraine, which had disrupted supply of crude oil due to sanctions imposed by the West on Russia, and the Indian government has no control over.

(With agencies’ inputs)