Congress workers show black flags to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Mumbai visit

Congress workers showed black flags to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman here on Sunday to protest against the 2021-22 Union Budget and the increasing fuel prices.

However, the police stopped the protesters from reaching near the venue of her visit here, a police official said.

As the Union minister reached Yogi Sabha Grah in Dadar area for an interaction in the backdrop of the Union Budget presented by her last week, around 400 to 500 Congress workers started shouting slogans against her, the official said.

They also raised slogans in praise of their party leader Rahul Gandhi.

The protesters had started assembling outside the Dadar railway station since early morning, the official said.

They shouted slogans against the Union Budget and the increasing prises of essential commodities like petrol, diesel, cooking gas cylinders as well as railway fares.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 4) Vijay Patil said, "The protest took place peacefully. No untoward incident was reported. No one has been detained and no FIR has been registered."

Mumbai Mahila Congress general secretary (administration) Sana Qureshi claimed that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the general public and the poor people are facing job losses.

"Now, the increasing prices of essential commodities will break the back of the common man. The budget has not offered any relief to the common man," she said.

Hence, the Congress workers staged a protest against the increasing prices of petrol, diesel and LPG, she added.

Another party functionary said they are not happy with the Union Budget, hence they showed black flags to the Union finance minister.