Union ministers in UP face protests
Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal (centre) at a rally in Pathankot on Monday. — PTI
Union ministers on a visit to Uttar Pradesh are facing tough times.
Angry over the cap on LPG cylinders, people are showing black flags and launching protests against the Union ministers, particularly those that belong to UP.
Union minister for coal, Sriprakash Jaiswal was on the first ones to feel the heat of the common man’s ire. On one of his visits to Kanpur, Mr Jaiswal’s car was “beaten” with slippers and slogans were shouted at his convoy. Traders later joined in the protest over FDI in retail issue.
Though the minister later dismissed it as a “BJP show”, the fact remains that the incident was reflective of the people’s angst against the spiralling inflation and the LPG cap.
Another union minister who faced similar protests is Jitin Prasada. A hostile crowded greeted him on his Kanpur tour and the mob attempted to blacken his face with ink but the minister was quick to react and rolled up the glasses of his SUV. Some ink, however, did land on his hand.
In Kushinagar, angry protesters burnt effigies of Union minister of state for petroleum R.P.N. Singh and shouted slogans against him to protest against the hike in prices of petrol and diesel and the cap on LPG cylinders.
A number of Congress MPs that this correspondent spoke to admitted that there was resentment surging in their constituencies.
“The people refuse to understand global economics that has forced a cut in subsidies and ask questions that leave us unnerved. I have been working overtime to meet people and empathise with them and, therefore, I am able to visit my constituency peacefully,” said a Congress MP.
The fear of a backlash has kept some, like Mohd Azharuddin, away from their constituencies for a prolonged period of time and some others — like a Union minister— prefer to echo the people’s sentiments when they are in their constituency.
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