Mamata Banerjee rides electric scooter to protest fuel price hike
What's the story
In a unique protest against fuel price hike, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday rode pillion on an electric scooter to state secretariat Nabanna. Banerjee was seen sitting behind state minister Firhad Hakim, who rode the battery-powered electric scooter. She was seen with a placard protesting against the petrol price hike hanging around her neck.
Modi Government
Modi Government only makes false promises: Banerjee
A helmet-clad Banerjee waved at people on both sides of the road during the seven-km-long journey from Hazra More to the state secretariat. After reaching Nabanna following a 45-minute ride, Banerjee slammed the BJP-led Government at the Centre saying, "We are protesting against the fuel price hike. The Modi government only makes false promises."
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TMC to launch stir against fuel price rise from Friday
"The Modi government has done nothing to bring down fuel prices. You can see the difference in petrol prices when the Modi government came to power and now," Banerjee said. "The TMC will launch a stir against fuel price rise from Friday," she said.
Criticism
Banerjee hits out at BJP; calls it an anti-people government
"The BJP had promised free LPG connections to the people before coming to power and now they are hiking its price," Banerjee said. "Modi and Shah are selling the country. They are selling the profit-making PSUs. This is an anti-people, anti-woman, anti-youth, anti-farmer government," she said. She also criticized the BJP government for renaming Ahmedabad's Sardar Patel Stadium after Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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What did Banerjee say about her unique protest?
"The way they are changing the stadium names, who knows they might change the country name in the coming days," she quipped. Speaking on her protest, Banerjee said, "I rode on an e-scooter to protest the manner in which petrol, diesel, LPG prices are rising."
West Bengal
LPG getting costlier; kerosene is out of reach
"A middle-class household needs two LPG cylinders a month which they can't afford now. Over one crore people in our state also depend on kerosene which they are not getting now," she said. Banerjee said she will return home in the evening on the e-scooter. Banerjee was trailed by security personnel on other two-wheelers as other vehicles followed her a little distance away.
Opposition
Opposition parties called Banerjee's protest an 'election stunt'
There was tight security along the Hazra-Exide-AJC Bose Road-Vidyasagar Setu route. The Opposition parties, however, called her protest an "election stunt." "The CM is resorting to novel theatrics ahead of the elections but the state government is not doing its bit to reduce fuel prices," BJP leader Jai Prakash Majumdar said.
Protest
Left Front leader compared Banerjee's protest to Lalgarh agitation
Congress Legislature Party leader Abdul Mannan said, "This is nothing but an election stunt. Why is the state government not substantially withdrawing cess to blunt the fuel price hike effect to help the common man?" Left Front leader Sujan Chakraborty compared her fuel hike protest with her earlier riding pillion on a motorcycle ridden by former PCAPA leader Chhatradhar Mahato during the Lalgarh agitation.
Information
Banerjee has ridden pillion on two-wheelers several times
"Banerjee had ridden pillion on Chhatradhar Mahato's motorcycle in the Jangalmahal region before coming to power in the state but later people of that region witnessed the TMC's intimidation and terror," Chakraborty said. The TMC supremo had earlier several times ridden pillion on two-wheelers.