Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Tuesday staged a statewide protest against the steep hike in petrol prices announced by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government. The Bahujan Samaj Party chief directed her party workers to stage demonstrations in 72 districts of Uttar Pradesh.
Mayawati personally monitored the entire show from Lucknow, where her senior-most minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui led the demonstration at the Jyotiba Phule Park. The day-long campaign was scripted by the BSP supremo and enforced by senior party leaders, including cabinet ministers, members of Parliament and members of legislative assembly.
Ironically, not very long ago, demonstrations by opposition parties including the Congress, Samajwadi Party and the Bhartiya Janata Party were crushed with a heavy hand by the Mayawati administration.
The police did not even spare senior leaders of the opposition parties, who were lathi-charged for defying restrictions imposed against demonstrations.
Tuesday's demonstration looked more like a pre-poll exercise largely aimed at running down the UPA government, which was blamed for being "insensitive" to the plight of the common man.
"The fact that the Congress-led UPA government has increased the price of petrol 12 times during its rule reflects the apathy of its leaders towards the common man," Siddiqui told the crowds in Lucknow.
"Between 2008 and now the petrol price has gone up by Rs 20," he said and attacked the Congress leaders for even ignoring the international pricing of crude oil and allowing oil companies to fleece the public.
Siddiqui said that while the Centre has been trying to justify the price rise in the name of economics, the fact is that the whole exercise is arbitrary.
"In February 2008, when the international price of crude oil had shot up to $120 a barrel, the UPA government did not increase the price because elections were just round the corner in five states. But now when the crude price has come down substantially, they chose to increase it by Rs 5 a litre. This speaks volumes of the political mischief behind the move," the minister said.
Blaming the central government for giving the oil companies a free run, Siddiqui said, "The decision to get the oil pricing outside the purview and control of the government was aimed at extending undue benefits to the oil companies."
He said that he wondered why the UPA government was more worried about the so-called losses to the oil companies than about the sufferings of the common man.
Claiming that the Mayawati government had done its bit to provide some respite to the people, he said, "The BSP government had exempted cooking gas from all state taxes and also cut down the rate of value-added tax on diesel by 4 per cent."
BSP intends to take this agitation to other states across the country.
