P.V.Anandpadmanabhan

Reluctant to accept rail fare hike, the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) President Manikrao Thackeray called for a day protest at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station early on Monday morning.

Congress party workers, MLA’s, corporators and the office bearers from various parts of Mumbai gathered at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus since 9 AM in the morning – shouting slogans against the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The current rail fare hike – biggest in the recent history of Indian Railways, has raised passenger fares by 14.2 per cent for all the classes and increased freight rates by 6.5 per cent to garner Rs 8000 crore annually.

The steep pre-budget hike has particularly hit the Mumbaikars hard, as they will have to shell out more than double for monthly and quarterly season tickets.

Former president of the Mumbai Congress, Kripashankar Singh, rued, “the hike is a sheer injustice to the citizens of India, especially Mumbaikars.”

However, Modi’s slogan “Acchae din aane waale hain” (Good days are in the offing) seems to have lost in the labyrinth of harsh economic decisions.   

In a symbolic protest against the current fare hike, the MPCC president Manikrao Thackeray along with his party workers boarded a Thane bound local train at 11.04 without purchasing tickets.  

Later, the party workers from Konkan, too swarmed around their leader at CST and shouted slogans against the PM and demanding its revocation, with many seen lying on tracks, blocking trains before it could enter the platform.

Thackeray said that if the same hike had been carried out by the Congress, the opposition would have bombarded it with criticisms and abuses.