Bandh call against ‘reform’ measures evokes fair response

In an unusual show of unity, leaders of the eight opposition parties came together at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi this morning to slam the government's decisions to allow foreign investment in multi-brand retail, hike diesel prices, and put a cap on the availability of subsidised cooking gas.

"The government is lying when it says foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail will create more jobs. It will affect the farmers and the aam admi (average person)," Nitin Gadkari, president of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, said.

Gadkari was joined by Communist Party (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury and Janata Dal (United) chief Sharad Yadav, which is an ally of the BJP in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The unity of the right-leaning BJP and the leftist CPI (M) raised many a snigger about the opportunistic nature of Indian politics.

''Never has it happened that the lives of 25 crore traders has been put at stake," Sharad Yadav of the JD (U) thundered at a fairly well attended rally.

"We will fight this (FDI in retail). We will not let it be implemented," Yechury of the CPM added.

The bandh call met with little response in Mumbai, India's commercial capital. Trains, buses, autos and taxis ran normally after the Shiv Sena and the MNS decided not to support its ally NDA's call for a bandh due to the ongoing Ganeshotsav festival. But retailers in the city supported the bandh and downed their shutters.