West Bengal and bandhs have become synonyms. The glee with which the political parties went ahead and announced bandhs in the state for two consecutive days makes one shudder to think of where the state is heading. Are bandhs answer to every problem?

Once the new week begins, people will have to move out of the house, go to the market to buy provisions, queue up for filing petrol in their vehicles. The pinch will be felt at every step. However, the way the political parties handle such so-called silent agitations to highlight important and burning issues does not evoke any sympathy. Today’s media coverage is enormous – the TV crew is waiting in the wings to pounce upon juicy morsels of news. And, once action is captured on the camera, people begin to squirm in their seats.


One of the videos showed a group of people who landed at the airport in the morning and had engaged a taxi to take them home. The supporters of the bandh stopped the vehicle en-route, compelled the passengers to alight and instructed the driver to lock the vehicle and vamoose! There were some women in the group and the bandh supporters just did not bother about their well being. Normally people plan their travels keeping in mind bandhs that are announced well in advance but, when the bandhs are declared all of a sudden, there is no time to change the plans. Those who harass the citizens via the bandh route cannot expect to earn the goodwill of the common man. The results of the recently concluded Panchayat elections has come as a big blow to the Left Front government of West Bengal and treating the common man with scorn will not improve the situation.

Another visual showed the problems faced by passengers of the Jagannath Express that arrived at Kharagpur early in the morning. Since the bandh had already begun, the passengers had resigned themselves to a long wait; they knew that the train would not budge until 6 in the evening. But, all of a sudden, the railways decided to terminate the train at Kharagpur itself and send the empty rakes into the shed for maintenance prior to return to Puri. The passengers were asked to vacate the train, the air conditioners were switched off and sweepers entered the compartments to clean up the floors! After a combined complaint, the authorities revoked the order.


These are two isolated incidents that reveal the attitude of the leaders, the way the state is being run and the dominance of the cadre. One really feels sorry for chief minister, Buddhadev Bhattacharjee – the way things are going, it will be extremely difficult for his visions to be fulfilled. There are people willing to invest in the state, but the signals that are emanating from the grassroots level do not raise much hopes.