Members of Parliament belonging to four Left parties, the Telugu Desam Party, Biju Janata Dal and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam staged a joint sit-in against price rise outside the main gate of the Parliament House on Thursday.
Carrying placards and raising slogans, they demanded immediate rollback of the prices of petrol, diesel, cooking gas and kerosene. The protest initially began at the Mahatma Gandhi statue, as the stairs leading to the main gate was occupied by Samajwadi Party MPs for a brief while.
The parties chose this mode of protest as they did not want to hold up the Parliament proceedings. Left MPs maintained that while price rise is an important issue, there are several other pressing issues that need to be discussed in Parliament.
Incidentally, RJD chief Lalu Prasad joined the group when its members were addressing the media at the designated spot inside the Parliament House complex.
Meanwhile, the CPI(M) sought to know as to why the UPA government was shying away from discussing the issue under rules which required voting. In his editorial in the latest edition of party organ People's Democracy , Sitaram Yechury said while the government maintained it was willing to discuss the issue without a vote, it claimed to have a numerical majority in the Lok Sabha.
“If this be the case, then why is it shying away from discussing this issue under rules that require voting? Obviously, the government is not confident of mustering a majority on such a vital issue that is affecting the vast majority of our people very adversely. Under popular pressure, the government is afraid that some of its allies may not support it steadfastly,” the editorial said.
The party said it was insisting on discussion under specific rules that required voting since previous debates on price rise did not lead to any positive response from the government.
By holding a discussion under rules that entails voting, the CPI(M) hopes to put pressure on the government to take concrete measures to contain price rise.
“The fear of facing a vote, it is hoped, would put sufficient pressure upon the government to concede some of the concrete demands that we, from the Left, have been raising,” it said.
The editorial mentions threes necessary steps to provide some relief to people. These include withdrawal of deregulation of prices of petroleum products; release of food grain stocks to States for distribution through the Public Distribution System, which would then impact markets, depressing the inflationary pressure; and a ban on speculative futures/forward trading in all essential commodities that is driving up the prices.
