New Delhi, Sep 20 (IANS): Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said Thursday's nation-wide strike has caused a huge damage to the Indian economy and the common people.

"In a democracy you have the right to protest against the government's policies. But it's rather ironic that the form of protests you are doing will cause great economic losses," Chidambaram told reporters here, referring to the strike supported by a broad spectrum of political parties.

Chidambaram said the common people, especially daily wage earners, were hit hard by the strike and the opposition to the economic policies should not take such a form that hits the economic activities.

"Wage earners can't earn their wages...in some factories wages have to be paid but there is no production," the finance minister said.

In a rare show of unity, leaders of the Communist parties and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came together to denounce the government's decision to hike diesel prices and allow foreign direct investments (FDI) in multi-brand retail trade.