Nationwide strike leads to stray cases of violence

Some opposition parties, led by the Congress, observed a countrywide strike on Monday over rising fuel prices and a falling rupee, shutting businesses, schools, and businesses in parts of India, media reports said. Cases of violence were reported from Bihar, Maharashtra and other states as protesters damaged vehicles and burnt tyres, while trains and bus services were disrupted in some other parts of India, the reports said.

This was the first time the opposition parties came together to organise a protest against the Narendra Modi-led NDA government, with general elections scheduled just months away, reports said.

However, trade and transport communities dismissed reports of disruption, calling the shutdown a failure. They said the protests were political and didn’t have their support. “This is a political gimmick and a single-day protest hardly has any impact,” said Naveen Kumar Gupta, secretary general of the All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC).

Sharing a similar sentiment, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), too reiterated that they did not support the one-day protest. Praveen Khandelwal, the general secretary of the traders’ body, claimed the opposition’s call for nation-wide strikes evoked no response from trading community as “commercial markets remained open today”.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi led the protest march in Delhi, but the disruption was felt mostly in states where regional parties were in power, Bloomberg reported. Blaming the policies of the NDA government, Gandhi criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his silence on rising fuel prices. “What the country wants to hear, what the youth want to hear, the prime minister does not talk about it. The country is fed up with seeing him,” Bloomberg quoted Gandhi as saying.

A Reuters report said that while protesters burnt tyres and blocked traffic in Assam, television footage showed protesters vandalising cars and buses in Patna. Several people have been arrested in Assam and West Bengal, officials said, the report added.

The Bharatiya Janata Party accused its opponents of “unnecessarily politicising” the high fuel prices and weak currency. “The BJP strongly believes despite some momentary difficulties, the people are not supporting the strike. And that is unnerving Congress party and opposition,” Bloomberg quoted law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad as saying. The minister blamed the rising fuel prices on global factors, the report said.

While the losses incurred due to these protests will be known in a few days, historically, such strikes have resulted in losses of over Rs 10,000 crore for the economy.

According to industry body Assocham, a nationwide strike called in 2010 cost the economy almost Rs 13,000 crore, while the pan-India protests against foreign direct investment in multi-retail resulted in estimated losses of Rs 10,000 crore-12,500 crore, . “We hope that parties across the political spectrum of the country would work to ensure that the economic reforms that are necessary for India are carried out," then CII president Adi Godrej had said.

Meanwhile, the diesel price in the national capital crossed Rs 70 a litre while the petrol price was Rs 82 per litre. “We want uniformity in the fuel prices along with quarterly revisions of the prices,” Gupta of AIMTC said.

Fuel prices have been increasing rapidly due to the sanctions levied by the US on Iran as well as weakening of the rupee. The strike was supported by 22 opposition parties.