New Delhi, Jun 29 (UNI) Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Anil Kumar led the party protest outside almost all the petrol pumps across the Capital for the continuous hike in the prices of petrol and diesel for the past three weeks.
Mr Kumar rode in a horse cart on his way to Raj Niwas to submit a memorandum to Lt Governor Anil Baijal to be forwarded to President Ram Nath Kovind, seeking roll back of the oil prices.
But Mr Kumar, along with other Congress leaders accompanying him, were arrested outside the Civil Lines petrol pump, near I.P. College, taken to the Maurice Nagar police station and registered FIRs against them.
Those who were arrested along with Mr Kumar were DPCC vice-presidents Jaikishan, Shivani Chopra, Abhishek Dutt, Dr Narendra Nath, Kunwar Karan Singh, Md Usman, Sandeep Goswami, Parvez Alam, Anuj Atrey, Abdul Wahid, Sunil Kumar (Seva Dal), district and block presidents.

The Congress leaders alleged that the Delhi Police was acting in a partisan manner as cases are filed against Congress leaders when they raise issues affecting the common people while the BJP leaders and workers are left scot free when they organize large demonstrations and dharnas.

Mr Kumar said that the hike in the prices of petrol and diesel for 22 days on a trot resulted in diesel becoming costlier than petrol in Delhi for the first time ever, and demanded roll back in excise duty by the Central Government and VAT by the Delhi Government.
He said that Narendra Modi Government was insensitive towards the plight of the people as the hike in the oil prices were pushing up the prices of all essential items steeply, including fruits and vegetables.
The people should be given the benefit of cheap crude oil price in the international market by lowering the prices in the domestic market as well.

Mr Kumar said that both the Modi and Kejriwal Governments were coming under the pressure from the oil companies in hiking the prices of petroleum products to help them reap huge profits while the people of Delhi were reeling under tremendous stress and strain on account of the fast spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said that common people were in no position to afford the hiked oil prices, though most people are now using private vehicles due to the spread of the Coronavirus.

Mr Kumar said that the people of Delhi are still under lockdown mode, many people have lost their jobs with no other source of livelihood, and under such a situation, instead of giving relief to the people, the Modi and Kejriwal Governments were making the lives of the people harder.
He said that the Congress protests across Delhi sent out a strong message to the Central and Delhi Governments that people are in no position to bear with such unreasonable price hike when crude oil at the international mark was selling at cheap rates.

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