Lakhs join 'Tweet Morcha' against fuel price hike
Mumbai, June 2: People across the country tweeted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday demanding a cut in fuel prices in a unique "Tweet Morcha" organised by the Mumbai Congress.
The online protest was organised by state party President Sanjay Nirupam and author Sucheta Dalal and joined by prominent Mumbaikars, celebrities and civil society members.
"The objective of this protest is to build public pressure on the non-responsive BJP governments at the Centre and in state and to spur them to act on rising fuel prices," Nirupam said.
The "Tweet Morcha" was a follow-up of last week's series of street processions organised by the Congress, but lack of positive action from the government has agitated people further, he said.
"Mumbai has seen a consistent hike in fuel prices despite the price of crude oil decreasing internationally. While this has disrupted the budget of the common man, the Bharatiya Janata Party government has reached new heights of insensitivity as they decided to reduce the petrol prices by one paisa. This is not acceptable to the masses," he added.
The tweets, demanding a curb on the fuel prices at the earliest, were sent to the Prime Minister and the Maharashtra Chief Minister using #TweetMorcha and #CutFuelTaxes.
"The BJP government strategically froze the prices of diesel and petrol in Karnataka during the campaign before the May Assembly elections. However, the fuel prices have been witnessing a continuous hike since then.
"The government has been waiving the huge loans of the businessmen who fail to repay their loans but blatantly exploits the poor who reel under inflation for past four years," added Nirupam.
"It is a myth that fuel price hike affects the rich or the upper middle class alone. High fuel prices have an inflationary effect across the system. It increases transport charges and costs and this hurts the poorer people when prices of basic commodities and vegetables are impacted," said Dalal.
Hence, the entire economy suffers while the government has been levying a series of unreasonable charges of fuel. This is highly unacceptable, she added.
Saturday's protest was the second "Tweet Morcha" after the first one held last year against the unfair charges levied by banks on customers.
Following the Twitter protest, the RBI was forced to take action against the unfair trade practices of banks within 72 hours.
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Sanjay Raut demands re-election, alleges irregularities in EVMs during Maharashtra polls
Mumbai, Nov 25: Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Monday demanded a re-election in Maharashtra using ballot papers, claiming there were irregularities with the electronic voting machines (EVMs).
Talking to reporters, Raut alleged several complaints about EVMs malfunctioning and questioned the integrity of the recently held elections.
The BJP-led Mahayuti won 230 out of 288 seats in the assembly elections, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi managed 46 seats, with Shiv Sena (UBT) winning just 20 out of 95 seats it contested.
"We have received nearly 450 complaints regarding EVMs. Despite raising objections repeatedly, no action has been taken on these issues. How can we say these elections were conducted fairly? Hence, I demand that the results be set aside and elections be held again using ballot papers," Raut said.
Citing some instances, he said a candidate in Nashik reportedly received only four votes despite having 65 votes from his family, while in Dombivli, discrepancies were found in EVM tallies, and election officials refused to acknowledge the objections.
The Sena (UBT) leader also questioned the credibility of the landslide victories of some candidates, saying, "What revolutionary work have they done to receive more than 1.5 lakh votes? Even leaders who recently switched parties have become MLAs. This raises suspicions. For the first time, a senior leader like Sharad Pawar has expressed doubts about EVMs, which cannot be ignored."
Asked about the MVA's poor performance in the elections, Raut rejected the idea of blaming a single individual.
"We fought as a united MVA. Even a leader like Sharad Pawar, who commands immense respect in Maharashtra, faced defeat. This shows that we need to analyse the reasons behind the failure. One of the reasons is EVM irregularities and the misuse of the system, unconstitutional practices, and even judicial decisions left unresolved by Justice Chandrachud," he said.
Raut stressed that though internal differences might have existed within the MVA, the failure was collective.
He also accused the Mahayuti of conducting the elections in an unfair manner.
"I cannot call the elections fair given the numerous reports of discrepancies in EVMs, mismatched numbers, and vote irregularities across the state," Raut said.
