Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, led a protest rally with several thousand Trinamool supporters in Kolkata to demand a roll back of the recent petrol price hike, much to the chagrin of the Congress-led central government. In the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA), Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress is the second largest ally. Senior party leader, Shovandeb Chattopadhaya, said, “The Congress-led central government has to roll back the petroleum prices. We don't support this decision. We don't believe in putting excess burden on the masses.”
After the record hike of Rs. 6.28 on every litre of the petrol, the fuel now costs almost Rs. 78 in Kolkata. Protesting against the same, Banerjee-led rally started from Jadavpur police station area via Prince Anwar Shah Road to Hazra crossing in Kolkata, a total distance of 5.6 km. While she was on road with her supporters and thousands of Trinamool activists and ministers, the entire region surrounding the Prince Anwar Shah Road-Rashbehari Road area froze.
Along with the aggressive Trinamool leader, the supporters and participants covered the entire 5.6 km stretch on feet as they shouted slogans of "long live Mamata Banerjee" and "roll back petrol price hike" while waving party flags and posters. Didi, as she is populary called, was seen waving and greeting the crowd gathered on both the sides of the road. Banerjee asked her supporters to hold more protest rallies across the state in each and every block after reaching the end point at Hazra Crossing. The CM was quite spirited during the rally and stopped only a few times to take short breaks between her long strides. Time magazine had recently listed Didi among the most influential persons of the world.
The rally by Banerjee attracted a huge crowd and, according to experts, was also an effort to not concede any political quarter to the Left Front, which has put up road blockades throughout the state as a gesture of protest. Earlier, a 5-km-long protest rally from Hazra Crossing in South Kolkata to the Gandhi Statue on Mayo Road in Central Kolkata was led by the Railway Minister and Trinamool General Secretary Mukul Roy on 24th May 2012.
On 23rd of May, the party lashed out at Congress for not discussing the hike with the allies. Trinamool Congress expressed its dissatisfaction with the price hike and cleared stated its intentions to protest against the same. However, Banerjee maintained that she will not pull out of the government, even though she will protest against the hike. At the state secretariat, she said, "As we have a commitment to support the government and we do not want political instability, we are not pulling out. But that does not mean we will not oppose the decision. The hike is unjust. We are really pained and saddened.”
