Bharat Bandh evokes mixed response, life partially hit

20 September, 2012

Calling it a poor show would be an exaggeration but NDA's Bharat Bandh has evoked mixed response across the country with traffic plying normally almost in all parts of the country. This, despite the fact that workers of various pro-Bandh parties stopped trains and buses and even forced shopkeepers to down shutters at certain places.

DEMANDING ROLLBACK of FDI in multi-brand retail business, diesel price hike and capping of subsidised cooking gas cylinders, the NDA has called for a Bharat Bandh today (Thursday), but according to various media reports, the bandh hasn't met much success.

While in Mumbai, everything – from traffic to trains and shops – is working as per routine. This, because Shiv Sena and MNS haven't supported the Bandh call in view of Ganesha Utsav festivities, which are going on in the city.

Around 5 crore traders and more than half-a-dozen trade associations are observing the bandh today besides the opposition political parties. Schools and colleges have been affected in some parts of the country, though overall the effect hasn't been much.

Apparently agitated at the lukewarm response to the bandh, workers of BJP Yuva Moracha blocked three trains at Patna railway station. Though Samajwadi Party supports the government at the centre, yet its workers couldn't stay away from marking their attendance. They staged demonstrations on rail tracks while CPI (ML) workers chose to stop the Ganga Sagar Express in Bihar.

In the heart of the country, Delhi, the strike had almost negligible response, with all schools and colleges open and traffic plying normally, according to The Times of India. Though shops in several areas of the city remained closed.

Though response to the bandh was near total in some NDA ruled states. In Jharkhand, the entire coal belt is closed with no vehicular movement on the GT road. In Punjab, cricketer-turned politician Navjot Sidhu is leading a protest while Patiala witnessed a complete shutdown.

In UP, the prime minister's effigy has reportedly been burnt at several places. The Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is expected to lead a protest rally against the 'reforms'. He chose Lucknow for the protest, apparently not to make any political statement by protesting in the capital.