Instead of taking donations for Ram Temple, govt should cut fuel prices: Sena

The Shiv Sena on Monday trained its guns at the Centre over the rising fuel prices saying instead of collecting donations for the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya the government should take steps to bring down the rates of petrol and diesel in the countryThe party which heads the ruling coalition in Maharashtra also raised the issue of Bollywood stars maintaining silence over the skyrocketing fuel prices a stand earlier taken by its ally the CongressIn the editorial of its mouthpiece Saamana the Shiv Sena said reducing petrol and diesel prices will ensure the devotees of Lord Ram get foodThe Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust a body formed by the Centre has been mandated with overseeing the construction of the Ram temple in AyodhyaA nationwide drive to collect funds for the temple kicked off last monthThe Shiv Sena said it is the duty of the government to control the prices of essential itemsPeople should do away with this loss of memory of the government if the government at the Centre has forgotten its duty of controlling pricesBring down the prices of petrol and diesel instead of collecting donations for the Ram temple construction Ram devotees will get food because of it reduction in prices and Lord Shri Ram too will be happy the Shiv Sena saidThe Uddhav Thackerayled party questioned why the BJP which otherwise stages agitation every now and then has kept quiet over the issue of rising fuel pricesThe Marathi daily said Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems to be blaming the previous governments for the current fuel price woesModi had last week said the middleclass would not have been burdened with high petrol and diesel prices if the previous governments had focused on reducing Indias energy importWithout referring to the relentless increase in retail fuel prices which are linked to global rates the PM had said India imported over 85 per cent of its oil needs in the 201920 financial year and 53 per cent of its gas requirementThe previous governments set up public undertakings like Indian Oil ONGC and Bharat Petroleum but Modi is selling them and now blaming the earlier regimes for fuel price rise the Shiv Sena saidUnion Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday had said the Centre and state governments will together have to work out a mechanism to bring retail rates of petrol and diesel to reasonable levelsThe Saamana editorial recalled actors like Akshay Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan had expressed views on petrol and diesel price rise before 2014 when the Congressled UPA was in power at the CentreThe celebrities are now quiet despite petrol price crossing the Rs 100 per litre mark in Rajasthan it saidThe Shiv Sena a former BJP ally claimed the celebrities are keeping quiet because they have been made to remain soIt also means there was freedom to express views to criticise before 2014 One was not jailed under sections relating to treason if heshe criticised government policiesToday we have lost even the freedom of expressing anger over petroldiesel price rise Therefore why blame Akshay Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan unnecessarily it saidThe Congress in Maharashtra had recently targeted the actors asking why are they keeping quiet over the fuel price rise and threatened to stall their films in the stateThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever