BJP accused of stalling vendors’ Bill

NASVI members protesting near BJP headquarters in New Delhi on Thursday. Photo: V. Sudershan

A group of street vendors on Thursday blocked the entrance to the Bharatiya Janata Party head office here for hours after the process of passage of the Street Vendors’ Bill in the Rajya Sabha was ‘obstructed’ by the party on Wednesday.

The National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) accused BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad of “trying to sabotage a crucial Bill having bearing on livelihood of millions of street vendors”.

The protestors raised slogans like “

chai chai bolte ho, chai walon aur rehri walon ke pet par laat marte ho ” (you talk of tea but attack the livelihood of tea vendors and street vendors) while referring to BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s

Chai pe charcha programme.

Protests were also held in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Gujarat and Maharashtra.