Opposition holds nationwide protests in India against record high fuel prices

Nationwide protests against record high petrol and diesel prices shut down businesses, government offices and schools in many parts of India on Monday. In some places, protesters blocked trains and roads and vandalized vehicles, Reuters reports. A general election is less than nine months away and provincial polls are expected in some states later this year. Opposition parties united to organize their first protest action in a campaign to stir discontent with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government. Congress party activists marched, blocked roads and disrupted trains in the eastern Indian state of Odisha. Other opposition parties protested outside offices of oil marketing companies. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi blamed the higher fuel prices and a falling rupee currency on the prime minister’s policies.