The recent hike in the price of petrol, diesel and LPG by the government in India began showing its political repercussions from Thursday 5 June onwards as the ruling Left Front and opposition Trinamool Congress in West Bengal called for a 12-hour 'Bangla Bandh'. This 12-hour strike acutely affected flight schedules to and from Kolkata, causing air carriers to either cancel or re-schedule their flights.  

 

The flights of the Indian Airlines got cancelled till 2 pm, whereas other airways rescheduled their flights. The bandh also is reported to have affected rail and road transport in Bengal.  On Wednesday 4 June, the government in India increased the costs of petrol and diesel by Rs five and Rs three a litre respectively and that of LPG by Rs 50 per cylinder. Kerosene, the poor man’s cooking medium, was however spared from any price hike.   

 

The Left leaders have labeled the price hike as ‘anti-people’, saying that this would push the prices of other important commodities even further as well as make inflation touch the 10 per cent mark. Biman Bose, the Left Front Chairman, has remarked that this UPA government’s decision is putting an enormous burden on general people and could have been prevented, which goaded them to call a bandh.