Left, right unite; walk out of Parliament

In a rare incident in the history of Indian Parliament, the formal event of the Union Budget was hijacked by the unity of the Opposition parties on Friday.

When the entire Opposition walked out of Parliament, protesting against the move to raise excise duty on diesel and petrol by Re 1 per litre, the politics over the Budget began even before Pranab Mukherjee could complete his important speech.

For the record, the proposal by the finance minister will lead to a hike of Rs 2.67 per litre and Rs 2.58 per litre in the prices of petrol and diesel, respectively, from midnight on Friday.

Sushma Swaraj, leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, while standing shoulder to shoulder outside Parliament with CPI's Gurudas Dasgupta, said, "We were listening to the Budget patiently. But when the finance minister raised the price of petroleum we could not keep silent and walked out. The increase in price of diesel and petrol will have a cascading effect on the prices of all commodities. When the price of petroleum products increases it increases the cost of transport. And, in effect it increases the price of  all the things aam admi needs."

"In spite of a debate in Parliament yesterday (Thursday) over price rise, the government has not taken into account the problems of the common man and the farmer. This Budget is anti-aam aadmi and anti-farmer, so we have walked out of Parliament."

Dasgupta, who has a divergent and almost opposite views on economy and politics with Swaraj's party, spoke in the same language. He said, "This Budget will lead to higher inflation. We shall fight against the Budget proposals. It is against the aam aadmi, it's anti-national."

Excited by the show of Opposition unity, Sushma then invited Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad to address the media, who did not forget to mention Bihar, his home state, in his speech. He said, in front of some four dozen TV cameras and photographers, "The Congress is doing whatever it likes. People are crying and housewives are struggling. And yet the Congress is increasing the price of diesel, petrol, cement and fertilizers. Entire opposition is one on the issue and we will fight it unitedly."

Then, he asked Swaraj and Dasgupta: "Are we united in the battle?"

"Yes!" came the resounding assent from all the political leaders, belonging to a wide spectrum of Indian politics. It also included Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav, among others.

Image: Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, BJP's Sushma Swaraj. Photograph: Reuters