Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi will visit Mumbai on Tuesday to express his support for the jewellers’ strike and also visit the Deonar dumping ground, Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam said on Saturday.
Mr Gandhi, who will attend an All India Congress Committee function to commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar in Nagpur along with Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday, will travel to Mumbai on Tuesday and visit the Deonar dumping ground first to understand the issue of frequent incidents of fire.
He will then visit Zaveri Bazaar around 2 pm to interact with jewellers, who have been on strike for 40 days to protest the one per cent excise duty imposed on non-silver jewellery in the 2016-17 budget.
“The jewellers strike has entered its 40th day. This is one of the longest running strikes. An estimated seven crore families are dependent on the jewellery industry. The BJP is known as a party that is supported by the traders’ community, but it is conspiring to destroy the industry,” Mr Nirupam said at a media conference at the Mumbai Congress office. He was accompanied by former MP Milind Deora and Kumar Jain of the Jewellers Association.
Mr Nirupam said the Congress has always supported jewellers, which is why the jewellers’ associations has invited Rahul to Mumbai. Mr Deora said Rahul had expressed solidarity with the jewellers’ strike and personally visited their protest site at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.
“In 2012, Rahulji had supported the demands of the jewellers. I am a former MP from South Mumbai constituency, and we have kept politics aside to support the community. The BJP government should roll back the one per cent excise duty with immediate effect and give relief to the community,” he said. The jewellers association has already received assurances of support from Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray.
Rahul and Sonia will be accompanied by senior party leaders including Digvijaya Singh, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Mallikarjun Kharge in Nagpur on Monday to attend the concluding function of the year-long AICC celebrations to mark the birth anniversary of Dr Ambedkar.
Congress vice president to visit Nagpur for AICC event on Monday with Sonia Gandhi
