Jamshedpur, March 17: Jewelers all over India are on an indefinite strike since the last 16 days against the 1 percent excise duty announced by the Union finance minister Arun Jaitely in the Union Budget for the 2015-16 fiscal announced in February.
Jewelers in the steel city under Jamshedpur Jewelers� Association kept their shops shut for straight 16th day on Thursday, as women took over the movement and decided to walk with the men during the protest.
On Thursday, a massive protest took place at Chagganlal Chowk in Bistupur, where the participants shouted slogans against the central government.
A large number of business class women, wives, mothers, sisters and daughters of prominent gold traders were present at the event.
Jasmine Adeshra, wife of Manish Adeshra, proprietor of Chagganlal Dayaljee Jewelers, said, �Gold trading and workmanship is not only a business, but an antique art and cultural heritage of India, which the gold traders have kept alive after being trained by their ancestors.
If the government is trying to ruin the legacy inherited by ancestors then we are also not going to bog down and will continue to protest till the excise duty is rolled back.�
Meena Adeshra, Kanak Adeshra, Rinku Nandi, Neera Adeshra, Charu Adeshra, Dara Adeshra, Asha Adeshra, Hetal Adeshra, Gulprit Kaur, Priyanka Jaiswal, Vipin Adeshra, Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Suresh Sonthlia and others participated in the protest.