Left, BJP up in arms, stir likely

The government's decision to hike the prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 2.50 and Rs 2 per litre, respectively, has met with stiff resistance from the Left and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The Left parties have called for a "vigorous" nation-wide protest on June 28. A statement released by the four Left parties today asked the government to reverse its decision and take measures to absorb the increase in international oil prices.

"It will affect farmers and the increase the cost of living for those who rely on transportation for pursuing their daily work and activities," the statement said. It also said the increase in diesel prices would be inflationary and have a cascading effect on the prices of all commodities.

The statement further said the government's justification for the price hike was "misplaced".

It said while it was "true" that the international oil prices had increased, the government would have been able to spare the common man of the hike if it cancelled the excise duty restructuring and the additional road cess, announced during the Budget.

These two suggestions were part of the alternatives provided by the Left to the government to keep the prices of petroleum products under check.

The other suggestions include doing away with the import parity price, formation of a price stabilisation fund to meet the fluctuation in global oil prices and a review of the duty drawback to exporters of petroleum products by private refineries.

These suggestions were given to the government at a series of meetings held for discussing the price hike issue. In the last meeting, the prime minister had told Left leaders that the hike was inevitable.

The BJP, on its part, demanded a roll-back or at least a duty-neutral arrangement. BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said the UPA government had increased the prices of petrol and diesel four times in one year, which was unprecedented.

"The excuse being used is the rising price of crude. However, the price of crude oil had fallen from $55 per barrel to $49 in November, and at other times, too, the government never took the opportunity to reduce the petrol and diesel prices," he said.

"Under the NDA regime, we kept duty-neutrality when the price of crude oil soared, and tried hard to prevent the burden from falling on the common man. Congress ne aam aadmi ko ragad diya hai (the Congress has completely wiped out the common man)," he said.

But, Congress Spokesperson Anand Sharma defended the UPA government's action.

"The government had tried to protect the consumer for long despite the fact that the crude prices had been rising for some time. In fact compared with other countries, the Indian government actually protects the consumers a lot more," he said.