Bhubaneswar, June 12 (Odisha.in) Thousands of activists of the Orissa’s Biju Janata Dal Thursday raised slogans against central government and carried out marches in state capital Bhubaneswar to protest against the fuel price hike.
More than ten thousand protestors who came from across the state’s 30 districts to the rally- a concluding part of a five days protest the party launched on Sunday said the hike will affect them hard.
The protestors were seen raising slogans “Sonia Gandhi down down” “Manhoman Singh down down”. Turama loka birodhai niti chaliba nahin “Your anti people act will not be tolerated”
Many of the protestors were also holding play cards, banners that read slogans against the central government and words criticizing senior leaders of congress party.
“The fuel price hike is an anti people act” chief minister Naveen Patnaik said. We have been fighting against the congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for neglecting the state. “Now we will intensify our protest further” Patnaik said addressing the gathering.
“At least 87 per cent of people in our state are so poor that they have each spending capacity of only 12 rupees per day much lower than the national average” senior BJD leader Damodar Rout told Odisha.in.
“All these poor people will suffer the most because of this hike” he said.
Bharatiya Janata Party which is a partner of the BJD government in Orissa however did not join the rally organized by the BJD.
Orissa is one of state Indian states which has announced to reduce value added tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel by two per cent on June 6 to soften the fuel price hike.
Odisha.in