By IANS,
New Delhi: The Congress said Monday that the objective of the opposition in calling a nationwide dusk-to-dawn shutdown was “sensationalism” and “an anti-public interest activity masquerading as a public interest measure”.
Party spokesman Abhishek Manu Sighvi said that the people were asking if the shutdown was in their interest or against it.
“Does it (bandh) do anything constructive, solve any problem. Has the opposition offered any constructive suggestions?” Singhvi asked.
He said that the Opposition parties including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Left could have raised their issues through the media or in parliament.
“It was indulgence in pure sensationalism,” he said, adding that the Supreme Court had declared bandhs unconstitutional in a 1998 judgement, holding that fundamental rights of people as a whole cannot be subservient to the fundamental rights of a section of people.
He said that a state-sponsored shutdown was even more unconstitutional.
The dawn-to-dusk shutdown call had been given by the National Democratic Alliance, the Left and several other non-United Progressive Alliance parties against rising prices of essential commodities and the government’s decision last month to end curbs on petroleum pricing and the hike the prices of diesel, kerosene and cooking gas.