NEW DELHI: The Congress party has geared up its attack on the central government on the issue of price rise, GST on some packaged food items and unemployment in the country party and has decided to organise Chaupals across the country.
The party will hold a series of protest rallies in various parts of the country, including agricultural and mandis and retail markets, starting from August 17 till August 23. The rally will end in Delhi’s Ramleela Maidan on August 28.
Congress General Secretary and Communication in-charge Jairam Ramesh, in a statement, said the party’s nationwide agitation on August 5 against the current government’s “anti-people policies” strongly resonated with the people.
Ramesh said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attempt to tar legitimate protest as “black magic” only highlights the BJP government’s insecurity about its failure to control rampaging inflation and unemployment.
For the record, India’s retail inflation has been over the Reserve Bank of India’s upper tolerance band of 6 per cent for the sixth consecutive month in a row in June. Retail inflation came in at 7.01 per cent in June. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation has been in the double-digit for 15 months in a row now.
The Congress party aims to take this fight forward with the upcoming protests. Ramesh further added, “The people of India are suffering because of the Modi government’s economic mismanagement. Inflation is being exacerbated by higher taxes on essential goods like curd, buttermilk and packaged food grains, while the transfer of public assets to crony capitalists and the introduction of the misguided Agnipath scheme are making a bad employment situation worse.”
“The Indian National Congress will continue to spread awareness about these anti-people policies among the people and increase pressure on the BJP government to change course.” (ANI)