Left condemns petrol, diesel price hike; demands cash transfer, free foodgrains to working class

The Left parties on Tuesday protested against the hike in petrol prices as well as the policies of the government in dealing with the coronavirus crisis, putting forth a slew of demands for the working classes.

In a protest held by the CPI(M) in front of its office in Delhi, the party demanded monthly cash transfer of Rs 7,500 for six months to all families outside the income tax bracket.

The party also demanded free 10 kg foodgrains per individual per month for six months.

“... 150 million have been rendered unemployed during lockdown. Heart rending experiences of hungry migrant workers on the roads going home has revealed the hunger that so many of our people are suffering from,” CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said.

“The government is doing everything to ensure that India is not self-reliant,” he said.

“Even in this situation, the government is trying to fill its coffers by increasing excise duty and this is the 10th day that the prices of petrol and diesel have gone up. We are protesting against all these,” the CPI(M) leader added.

The party also demanded that a minimum 200 days employment under MNREGA with raised wages be provided to workers and urged the government to extend the scheme to the urban poor.

“Immediately announce an unemployment allowance. Stop the loot of national assets, privatisation of the public sector and stop the scrapping of labour laws,” Yechury said.

The CPI announced that it will hold nationwide protests against the hike in petrol and diesel prices on June 20, marking it as ‘Anti-Fuel-Hike Protest Day’.

“The Narendra Modi government with the help of the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) is raising the price of petrol and diesel on a daily basis, to cover up the government’s failure on all fronts and crisis in all vital sectors,” it said.

The party calls upon all its units to strongly protest the continuing hike, which is adding to the pains of all sections of people, ignoring the fact that the hike will have a cascading effect on the prices of all essential commodities and travel costs, the Communist Party of India (CPI) added.

Petrol and diesel prices were hiked for the 10th day in a row on Tuesday. While the price of petrol has gone up cumulatively by Rs 5.47 per litre, price of diesel has increased by Rs 5.8 per litre.