Gear up for 'Bharat bandh' on July 5

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The issue of fuel price hike has brought almost the entire opposition together with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance and Left parties giving a call for a nation-wide strike on July 5 demanding a rollback.

All essential services like supply of water, milk, electricity, hospital and emergency services will be exempt from the 'hartal'.

The NDA and the Left parties made separate announcements in this regard and Janata Dal-United chief Sharad Yadav claimed that it was the first such instance of opposition unity after the "JP movement" in the mid-seventies.

Sources said the impact of the bandh is likely to be the worst in at least 10 states where the opposition was holding reins. The bandh is also expected to have total impact in states like Maharashtra, where Shiv Sena -- an ally of the BJP --has announced their support to the bandh.

370)this.width=370">The Left parties rule three states -- Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura.

Along with the Left parties, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Telugu Desam Party, Samajwadi Party, Biju Janata Dal, JD-Secular and Indian National Lok Dal have also called for a nationwide bandh to protest against the Centre's decision.

''The 12-hour hartal will begin at 0600 hrs and end at 1800 hrs,'' a statement issued by the Left parties said.

''The Congress-led government has delivered another cruel blow to the people by increasing prices of petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG by deregulating the prices and leaving it to the market,'' the Left leaders said in the statement.

The Left leaders also said the only way for the people is to launch a powerful and collective protest to compel the government to heed their voice to withdraw the price hike. ''We appeal to all sections to register their protest by participating in our hartal.''

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The BJP after dithering a bit to coincide its stir with other parties also decided for a Bharat bandh, fuelling speculations the bandh call will have impact in the six states the party rules -- Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Gujarat. The party is also in the ruling coalition in Bihar.

As part of the agitation plan, top BJP leaders will fan out in different cities to mobilise public support, said party national general secretary and chief spokesman Ravindra Shankar Prasad.

On Thursday, BJP president Nitin Gadkari was in Ratlam, Sushma Swaraj in Raipur, M M Joshi in Ranchi and Rajnath Singh in Bhubaneshwar to work for the success of the proposed Bharat bandh protest.

Justifying the party's nation-wide agitation, which could cause public hardship for a day, Prasad said it was a legitimate and democratic method of voicing the people's feeling of hurt and pain over the failure of the UPA government on the food economy management.
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"The prime minister, an economist of repute, should tell the country if his government is working to protect the interests of the petroleum companies or the common man," said Prasad.

The BJP alleges that in the UPA regime, prices of computers, mobile phones and other white-goods and luxuries are falling while that of essential items, mainly foodgrains, are getting out of reach of common man.

The party feels that the prime minister owes an explanation to the people on the steep increase in vegetable and milk prices.

Interestingly, the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party has called for an agitation in Uttar Pradesh on July 6 against the UPA government's decision to hike the prices of petroleum products.

370)this.width=370">While the Samajwadi Party is supporting the government from outside, it has decided to join the bandh apparently due to the political dynamics of Uttar Pradesh, where a revived Congress is striving to come to power in the 2012 elections.

The party has claimed that the hike in fuel prices has brought 'warmth' in opposition ties like the one before the imposition of Emergency in the 1970s.

"If the government continues to follow anti-people policies, the opposition may unite once again," SP spokesperson Mohan Singh said, noting that 'a full-fledged opposition unity is still a far cry'.

Ajit Singh's RLD has not revealed its cards so far but the party has been supportive of the Congress in Rajya Sabha elections from Uttar Pradesh last month paving the way for the victory of former Union Minister Satish Sharma, a known loyalist of the Gandhi family.