Top Left leaders and activists today courted arrest after staging a massive demonstration here as part of their nation-wide agitation to protest the government’s “failure” to check rising prices of essential commodities.
Top Left leaders Prakash Karat (CPI-M), A. B. Bardhan and D. Raja (CPI) and Abani Roy (RSP) were among those who courted arrest, police said.
A group of activists then tried to enter the Parliament Street Police Station and police had to use water cannons to disperse them.
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Shouting slogans against the government, the activists gathered at Jantar Mantar this morning as part of a nation-wide ‘jail bharo’ agitation announced by the four Left parties.
In a bid to intensify the anti-price rise movement, CPI(M) has begun preliminary consultations with other secular opposition parties like the TDP, JD(U), SP, BSP and RJD, party sources said.
A national-level action call is expected when these talks are formalised, the sources said, adding a meeting of the outfits and the Left parties is likely to be held before the Budget Session of Parliament resumes on April 15.
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CPI(M) had earlier announced that it plans to mobilise around 25 lakh people across the country for the ‘jail bharo’ agitation against price rise.