India Strikes against
FDI Retail
Today’s call for a nationwide strike (Bharat Bandh) by trade
unions of street vendors, small traders, and most of the political parties from
left to right and including of parties within the Govt. and parties supporting the Govt. was
historical. Millions of retailers and thousands of trade associations observed the bandh demanding rollback
of FDI in multi-brand retail. All
major markets were closed through out India. Public transport was off the roads
and colleges, schools, offices and transport services remain shut in most
part of India. Trains were blocked by political activists of BJP, SP and CPI
(ML) in many places including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa and
Jharkhand. The station Master of Patna Railway Station was locked. The impact
of the strike was also seen in states of the North East. The bandh was total in
Manipur. Banks, markets, shops and educational institutions were closed, with
government offices recording low attendance in Meghalaya. Railway, road and
others services were heavily impacted in Jharkhand. Most colleges reported only
20-50% attendance in Mumbai.
In a sit in protest organised jointly by our campaign allies prominent
national leaders from left to right shared the dais. NDA Convenor and JD(U)
President Sharad Yadav asked the Congress to remove Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh for this "attack on the bread of butter of 25 crore people",
while addressing the protest at Jantar Mantar. Eight parties including left
parties and SP took out protest march towards Parliament and Mulayam Singh
Yadav, Prakash Karat, AB Bardhan, Sitaram Yechury and Chandrababu Naidu courted
arrest in parliament police station. BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu was detained in
Hyderabad whereas Yeddyurappa and Ananth Kumar got arrested in Bangalore.
On
the other hand, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said to media that the
nation-wide strike has caused a huge damage to the Indian economy and the
common people. Big Business lobby group, CII reported to media that the
nation-wide strike against the government decision to allow foreign direct
investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail have caused losses to the tune of
Rs12,500 crore ($2.25 billion) to the Indian economy.
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