Samikhsya Bureau
It is for the economists to make threadbare dissection on the budget 2019 but the majority coming within the ‘Gaon, garib aur kissan’ category are a baffled lot.
At the stroke of midnight today one has to shell out Rs. 2.50 per litre of petrol and Rs.2.30 extra per litre of diesel once the cess comes into effect. That is the bottom line of the budget for them.
It is a shocking hike by many yardsticks which will have a spiral effect on a chain of commodities that the ‘Gaon,garib, kissan’ can’t do without. And there seems to be no bail out in the near future.
For the relaxations granted on certain quarters are to be compensated by the rise in fuel price, a hard hitting recourse chosen by the finance minister that directly mocks at the ‘sabka biswas’.
The hike is bound to keep the heartbeat of millions rising at a time when the BJP gets glued to a grandiose extravaganza in Varanasi in its membership drive. BJP may be ‘ back on track’ but Saturday’s midnight thunder is bound to create a downbeat mood among the people.
The hike can be defended through several technical parameters but it is always the end result that matters. Battered by several such shocking rise through the dynamic fuel price charts now the people hoped for some sort of respite. People had hardly expected that politics on fuel can have such a free run to fuel the frustrations to a level from where a rollback looks highly impossible.
Already hit by an average price of petrol at Rs.70 plus, now the new rate comes on the way of ‘sabka sath’.