Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has always been innonative. She protested Thursday in a unique style against the steep rise in fuel prices. Mamata Banerjee commuted to and from state secretariat ‘Nabanna’ on an electric scooter. While on way to Nabanna in the morning, Banerjee was seen riding pillion. The battery-powered electric scooter was then driven by minister Firhad Hakim. The TMC supremo herself took the driver’s seat on way back to her residence in Kalighat area in the afternoon.
A placard protesting against the petrol price hike was hanging around her neck. The helmet-clad Banerjee waved at people on both sides of the road during the seven-km-long journey from Hazra More (Chowk) to the state secretariat in the first half.
On return, the CM, however, decided to drive the vehicle herself at a slow speed. Hakim and some security personnel followed her on foot. She drove the e-scooter till Rabindra Sadan-Exide Crossing when Hakim took it from her again. But, as the scooter entered Harish Mukherjee road, Banerjee was once again on the driving seat till reaching home.
In the morning after reaching Nabanna following a 45- minute ride, Banerjee slammed the BJP-led government at the Centre. “We are protesting against the fuel price hike. The Modi government only makes false promises. They have done nothing to bring down fuel prices. You can see the difference in petrol prices when the Modi government came to power and now,” Banerjee said.
The chief minister said the TMC will launch a stir against fuel price rise from Friday.
With the state elections not too far, the TMC supremo is not missing any opportunity to score over her main rival BJP. Polls to 294-member West Bengal assembly are due in April-May this year.
“The BJP had promised free LPG connections to the people before coming to power and now they are hiking its price,” Banerjee said. “Modi and Shah are selling India. They are selling the profit-making PSUs. This is an anti-people, anti-woman, anti-youth, anti-farmer government,” she said.
The feisty TMC chief also criticised the BJP government for renaming the Sardar Patel Stadiumin Ahmedabad after Minister Narendra Modi. “The way they are changing the names of stadiums, who knows they might change the name of the country in the coming days,” she quipped.
Banerjee also spoke on her unique way of protest. “I rode on an e-scooter to protest the manner in which petrol, diesel and LPG prices are rising. A middle-class household needs two LPG cylinders a month which they can’t afford now. Over 1 crore people in our state also depend on kerosene which they are not getting now,” she said.
The opposition parties, however, called her protest an ‘election stunt’. “The CM is resorting to novel theatrics ahead of the elections. However, the state government is not doing its bit to reduce fuel prices,” BJP leader Jai Prakash Majumder said. Congress Legislature Party leader Abdul Mannan said, “This is nothing but an election stunt. Why is the state government not substantially withdrawing cess to blunt the effect of the fuel price hike to help the common man?”
