Congress workers hold 'Degree Holder Shoes Polish, Pakoda stall' outside protest rally venue in Delhi

IANS

New Delhi, September 4

Protesting against the price hike at the 'Mehngai Par Halla Bol rally' at Ramlila Maidan here, the youth Congress workers organised a unique stall ‘Degree Holder Shoes polish, Pakoda stall’ outside the venue.

The Congress has organised the rally to raise the issue of price rise, unemployment and economic slowdown which has hurled the people of the country.

The stall has been symbolically opened to protest against the rising prices and the GST rate hike on edible oil and other daily use commodities, said the youth Congress workers.

"Through this symbolic protest, we want to convey the message to our prime minister who once said 'fry the pakodas' on the issue of employment. But even this is not possible under this draconian price hike for the youths of the country," said a member of Rajasthan youth Congress.

Even, GST has been implemented on every domestic commodities. The price of edible oil has historically reached to Rs 200 per kg, which is an impossible situation for the poor, he said.

"This is our halla bol against the price rise and unemployment that has landed the country into economic despair," youth Congress worker said.

The Mehangai Par Halla Rally will be addressed by former party chief Rahul Gandhi and several other senior leaders at the Ramlila Maidan in Central Delhi. The party workers have been gathering at the maidan for the rally since morning.

As per the Congress leaders, about a lakh people will attend the rally.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary, KC Venugopal said, “We can proudly say that we are the party, which is fighting against this most painful price rise issue all over the country. From 2021 onwards consistently, continuously, we are staging this protest.”

The grand-old party said that their protest is taking place everywhere, whether it is south, north, west, north-eastern states, district level and block level, and even at petrol pumps they have done a massive signature protest campaign all over India, by taking crores of signatures from the common man, who were affected by this price rise and sent it to the President.

The Congress alleged that the Union government is completely insensitive as compared to price of LPG in 2014, what is its price in 2022? From 40 to 175 per cent is the increase in price of the items, 40 to 175 per cent increase in essential commodities, petrol-diesel and LPG. If you ask a question to the government, there is no answer.

"Finance Minister didn't say anything and meanwhile further burdening the people with price rise, GST rates of some essential items also have been increased. We demanded a rollback of GST price, nothing has happened," the AICC General Secretary said.