MUMBAI: The Mumbai Congress on Sunday staged a noisy protest flaying the rising fuel prices and runaway inflation which has burdened the masses owing to the policies of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre.
The protest was held near the Swaminarayan Temple in Dadar where Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman arrived to address Mumbai's corporate, business leaders, industrialists and industry associations first time after presenting the Union Budget 2021-2022.
Leading the demonstrators comprising party leaders, ministers, legislators and ward heads, Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC) President BhaiJagtap said that in the 65 years of Congress rule at the centre, the prices of petrol had come up to only Rs 65, but in just seven years, the BJP allowed it to shoot up to Rs 94 now.
Similarly, cooking gas prices which were barely Rs 390 in 2014 have not nearly double to Rs 719, destroying domestic budgets and playing havoc with the common people, he said.
Jagtap and other leaders requested the Mumbai Police to permit a five-member delegation to meet Sitharaman to discuss the budget, but they were refused.
"The BJP claims this budget is very good But its good only for the corporates and industrial houses It's a disaster for the common Indian," Jagtap said.
Congress Working President Charan Singh Sapra alleged that the 'arth-mantri's (finance minister's) budget was a 'vyarth-budget' (waste) which was only intended for the rich.
Other prominent leaders who joined the agitation included Education Minister VarshaGaikwad, former minister ArifNaseem Khan, ex-city president EknathGaikwad, party leaders BhushanPatil, Ajanta Yadav, SandeshKondwilkar, Ashok Jadhav and hundreds of other activists from across Mumbai.
Sitharaman addressed her first post-budget meeting of corporate leaders and industry associations in the country's commercial capital on the salient aspects of this year's Budget and is later likely to interact with the media. (IANS)