The city unit of Bharatiya Janata Party held a demonstration at the roundabout of Sector 7-8-18-19 on Saturday. Hundreds of party workers and leaders gathered and raised slogans against the increasing prices of essential commodities. As many as 551 party activists courted arrest during the protest. Workers from across the city gathered near the roundabout carrying party flags and placards with slogans like Janata trast,sarkar mast and Yeh mehangai Congress laai. A memorandum was also submitted to UT Administrator Shivraj Patil in this regard. Party workers tied black bands as a mark of protest and wore garlands of vegetables. Senior leaders of the party,while addressing the gathering,lambasted the Congress-led UPA government on its failure to control the skyrocketing prices of essential commodities. President of the city unit,Sanjay Tandon,said the prices of essential commodities have gone out of reach for the common man,making it almost impossible for him to run a family. The economically weaker sections and families of large number of workers in unorganised sectors have been the worst affected as their wages are not commensurate with the price rise. Former MP Satya Pal Jain said the essential coordination required between different departments of the government appears to be lacking. This is a time for action since the inflationary trends have caused enormous misery to the common man and the government is not taking any positive step to check the problem, he said. The BJP leaders said it was an alarming situation as the increase in the prices of food articles will also eventually impact the prices of manufactured items of common consumption. The departments of the government,which deal with the management of the economy,have failed to intervene effectively in order to address this burning issue. It appears that the government lacks seriousness and has run out of ideas on how to deal with the situation,they added. The government is resorting to a do nothing approach in the hope that the problems will resolve on their own,the leaders alleged. Among others who addressed the gathering were Jai Ram Joshi,Dharam Pal Gupta and Gian Chand Gupta. They lambasted the recent statements of Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar that he is not an astrologer capable of predicting as to when the food prices would come down. They also criticised him for his continuous flip-flop in predicting the fall in the retail price of sugar,which has not at all been reassuring to the nation. Over the last few weeks the party activists have staged protest march and demonstrations in most of the villages,colonies and sectors of the city at the mandal and district levels. The party activists also said they will gherao the Parliament in March to compel the Congress-led government to take effective measures to curb price hike.
