Amid scorching heat, activists of Mahila Congress on Friday afternoon cooked food on Chulhas- using dung cakes and firewoods in Jammu's busy Dogra Chowk as a mark of protest against 'unprecedented' hike in prices of LPG cylinder.
Mahila Congress activists invented this unique protest to seek maximum attention of the passers-by in the busy chowk of the city. This new way of protest attracted people who anxiously watched female Congress workers cooking food on the road and serving to the passers-by.
Designed this protest to seek government's attention towards price hike
"Every day we are holding a protest against unprecedented hike in the prices of essential commodities but it appears that government is unconcerned about hardship being faced by the middle class," Indu Pawar, president of J&K Mahila Congress, said.
"We devised this unique protest to seek the attention of the government towards unending woes of the commoners, especially women in managing kitchens," Pawar told International Business Times. She said that the LPG cylinders have become unaffordable even for the middle class of the country.
Cops in a dilemma to act
As the Mahila Congress had announced to hold a protest against price hike on Friday, a large number of female cops were deployed at the venue to stop female activists to create obstacles in vehicular movement. Cops were surprised when Mahila Congress reached the venue in small groups, following COVID protocol, with utensils and set-up 'Chulhas' on the side of the road.
'Protesting' Mahila Congress workers were neither blocking vehicular movement nor they were creating law and order problems, so cops were in a dilemma to act against them. After watching this unique protest, cops left the venue without taking any action.
Female workers to continue similar protests
Encouraged over the overwhelming response of the people, Indu Pawar said that similar protests would be organized in other parts of J&K so that people would see how the unaffordable LPG price rise has forced the poor to resort to old methods of cooking. She said that through such protests, people in general and females, in particular, would be educated about 'anti-poor policies of the central government.'
