NEW DELHI, June 21 (AFP): Angry demonstrators blocked railway tracks and burned effigies of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday to protest a steep hike in train fares, seen as the government's first tough step towards reforming a sluggish economy.
Modi's government, which came to power a month ago after overthrowing the ruling Congress, has pledged to revive the economy after it grew at just 4.7 percent last year-the lowest in nearly a decade.
The hike is seen as the first dose of the "bitter medicine" that Modi recently warned was needed to revive the economy, Asia's third-biggest.
In northern Uttar Pradesh state, scores of flag-waving protesters blocked railway tracks in Allahabad city, forcing the Ganga-Gomti passenger train to halt.
And in the capital New Delhi, hundreds of supporters of the opposition Congress party set fire to an effigy of Modi before police fired water cannon to disperse the crowd.
"It is a massive hike. If they continue to take steps like this, I am sure people of the country will punish the government," Arvinder Singh Lovely, a Congress leader, told reporters.
Modi's effigy was also burnt in the southern city of Hyderabad by supporters of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which is part of the opposition.
Rail passenger fares were increased Friday by 14.2 percent and freight rates by 6.5 percent with effect from June 25, the steepest in the last 15 years.
Protests in India over steep rail fare hike
FE Team | Published: June 22, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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