The Congress is holding protests in front of petrol pumps across the country against the rising prices of fuel and cooking gas on Friday. The party is demanding the withdrawal of the price increases.

Visuals showed that the party members took to the streets in various cities, including Delhi, Amritsar in Punjab and Karnataka’s Hubli to protest against the fuel prices. In the national Capital, senior party leader KC Venugopal and Delhi Congress president Anil Chaudhary also participated in the agitation.

On Wednesday, Venugopal had said in a statement that the protest will be “symbolic” and organised by local party units. He had said that the protest will be held following all Covid-19 protocols.

Petrol prices have crossed the Rs 100-mark in several cities in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and the Union Territory of Ladakh. On Friday, petrol cost Rs 102.04 per litre in Mumbai while diesel sold at Rs 94.15 after the prices were revised, reported Mint. In Delhi, petrol was priced at Rs 95.85 per litre and diesel at Rs 86.75.

This is the 23rd time that fuel prices have risen since 4 May, after oil marketing companies ended their 18-day-long hiatus on rate revision in view of the Assembly elections in four states and the Union Territory of Puducherry.

In his statement, Venugopal had said that the Bharatiya Janata Party government has increased excise duty by Rs 23.87 per litre on petrol and Rs 28.37 on diesel in comparison to the previous United Progressive Alliance regime. “The wrong priorities and anti-people policies of the BJP government can also be gauged from the fact that in the last 13 months of the corona epidemic, the prices of petrol and diesel have been increased by an unprecedented Rs 25.97 and Rs 24.18 respectively,” the senior Congress leader alleged.

He said that fuel prices have increased 44 times in the last five months. “In absence of any financial assistance by the central government to the common citizens, the people are facing huge financial problems,” Venugopal said. “Instead of sympathising with the problems of the commoners, the BJP government has decided to disregard the sufferings of the people and continue to inflict pain by raising the prices of petrol and diesel every other day.”

The hike in prices came even as India’s oil demand dropped 1.5% in May as compared to the same month a year earlier, Reuters reported. The demand was the lowest since August 2020.

Meanwhile, the Congress also launched a social media campaign to highlight the rising fuel prices. In a tweet, the party said that fuel prices were the BJP’s “opportunity to loot” and an act of extortion when international crude oil prices were low.