Thiruvananthapuram: Flood-ravaged Kerala will not be spared from the Bharat Bandh called by the Congress on September 10 to protest against the rising fuel prices.
KPCC president MM Hassan on Friday confirmed here a dawn-to-dusk hartal will be observed in Kerala on Monday. "Kerala will not be exempted from the September 10 stir," the Congress leader said, adding that people in flood-affected areas would not be troubled.
The Congress on Thursday had stated that the bandh will be from 9am to 3pm but Hassan has clarified that in Kerala the hartal will be from 6am to 6pm. The party has also urged other opposition parties and civil society groups to join the protest against the Central government.
Left parties had also called for a pan-India hartal on Monday.
“The Congress has decided that we will be giving a call for Bharat Bandh on September 10 in order to highlight the Rs 11 lakh crore fuel loot and to demand an immediate reduction in central excise duty as also excessive VAT," Congress communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala had stated in New Delhi on Thursday.
He said the Congress will also demand petrol and diesel should be brought within the ambit of the GST so that the 'common man whose budget has gone haywire is provided the requisite relief'.
Left's hartal
The Left parties too called for a dawn-to-dusk hartal on September 10. "Left parties call upon the people to join this protest in a big way to demonstrate people's rejection of the Modi government and its policies," read a joint statement from the Left parties.
Left parties alleged that the Modi government was levying unprecedented economic burdens on people. They alleged that the unprecedented fall in the value of rupee reflected the deep economic crisis created by the government. Such economic attacks on the people come on top of the 'vicious communal-authoritarian onslaughts' mounted by this Modi government, it said.
