Pramod Kumar
Traders, BJP leaders put to practice bhains ke aage been bajana
WHEN the Congress was organising a show of strength at Ramlila Grounds of Delhi on November 4 by collecting a few thousand people from Delhi and adjoining states like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand, the main opposition party, the BJP, organised a musical protest ‘Bhains Ke Aage Been Bajana’ at Jantar Mantar against the Congress U-turn on FDI in multi-brand retail. The BJP leaders played been (a snake charmer’s pipe) to drive home a message that the Congress-led UPA government has become deaf and dumb to voices against the FDI. The protest at Jantar Mantar was organised under the banner of Confederation of All India Traders. Apart from it, Delhi unit of BJP organised protest demonstrations at 14 prominent places of Delhi the same day.
“Just as a buffalo is not sensitive to music, the same way this government is mute to the voice of the masses. Explaining the people’s concerns to this government on matters like the FDI is like playing the been in front of a buffalo,” senior BJP leader Dr Murli Manohar Joshi said while addressing the protestors in New Delhi. He further said the Congress is not realising the total and complete opposition to FDI. They are trying to mislead people. The fact is that they brought it in under foreign pressure. “Through this protest we want to tell people that the government is highly insensitive to the plight of the farmers and the small traders,” Dr Joshi added.
Commenting on the Congress rally organised in Ramlila Grounds Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Shri Arun Jaitley said, “This was a rally intended to create false bravado when they have failed on the financial front and in giving clean governance. It has no idea on how to control prices and has rationalised diesel and LPG price hike. The Congress is basically rejoicing in the common man’s misery.” He also maintained that “not a word has been said” by the Congress on the issue of scams like 2G spectrum and coal block allocation, and those committed by relatives of leaders and the party itself.
“The Government has no answer to the manufacturing jobs falling due to FDI in multi-brand retail and to the displacement of retail jobs. It says middlemen will be eliminated but this will only benefit the retailers and not the farmer. In the US and Europe, a subsidy of $1 billion per day is given to farmers due to this reason,” he added.
Former BJP chief M Venkaiah Naidu asked the Congress to refute the fact when on a day the Supreme Court put six pertinent questions to the Government about the coal scandal, the Government decided to announce the FDI in multi-brand retail in a desperate bid to deflect attention of the people from corruption? “Is it not a fact that the Congress has not consulted its allies on such a major decision? Is it the way to run the Government?” he asked.
Apart from the protest rally at Jantar Mantar the Delhi unit of BJP organised protest demonstrations at 14 prominent places of Delhi the same day. Many senior leaders including state BJP president Shri Vijender Gupta, Shri Kalraj Mishra, Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Shri Balbir Punj, Shri Bhupender Yadav, Shri Shyam Jaju, Shri Bhagat Singh Khoshiyari, Prof Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Shri Vijay Goel, Smt Aarti Mehra, Smt Vani Tripathi and others addressed the demonstrators.
In the protest meetings and demonstration organised from 9.00 am to 8.00 pm, a large number of local traders, citizens, youth and party workers resolved that they would not allow FDI in the country. The workers staged protest demonstration at Durgapuri Chowk, Jalebi Chowk, Sultanpuri, Kingsway Camp Chowk, Jwalahedi Market, Paschim Vihar, Madhuban Chowk, Vikas Marg, Tilak Nagar Market, Kamla Nagar Main Market, Govindpuri Main Road, Uttam Nagar Terminal, Narela, Azmal Khan Road, New Ashok Nagar, Sewa Nagar Railway Crossing, Kailashpuri Chowk, Palam, etc.
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