BJP's Bengal Bandh Call Evokes Mixed Response; Party Workers Clash With Police

BJP workers clashed with the police in various parts of West Bengal during their 12-hour state-wide bandh on Monday against "widespread rigging and violence" in civic elections on the previous day. The 6 AM to 6 PM shutdown call evoked a mixed response as the state government engaged its entire machinery to ensure that normal life remained unaffected. Transportation was normal and most of the commercial establishments remained open in South Bengal even as BJP workers staged blockades of railway tracks and roads in some areas. BJP activists sat down on railway tracks in Hooghly station, and also blockaded roads in Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari's Nandigram constituency in Purba Medinipur district. Some saffron party workers also attempted to stop plying of government buses but were prevented by the police from doing so.

In North Bengal, where BJP had performed well in last year's assembly elections, the bandh call, however, evoked a good response as shops remained shut and vehicles off the roads. Even as a few government buses plied the roads, passengers were very few. Office-goers had to face problems as private commercial vehicles remained off the roads. BJP MLAs Shankar Ghosh and Anandamoy Burman were detained by the police while taking out a rally in support of the shutdown. In Balurghat area in South Dinajpur district, BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar led a rally in support of the strike call. When the police tried to stop it, a clash broke out leading to the arrests of several BJP workers. In Kolkata, BJP activists clashed with the police, as a result of which the law enforcers resorted to the use of force to disperse the mob. BJP leader Sajal Ghosh was detained.

The state government had on Sunday said that it opposed strikes and bandhs as these disrupt normal life, inconvenience people and affect their livelihood. The BJP had called for a 6 AM to 6 PM shutdown across West Bengal in protest against "widespread rigging and violence" during elections to 107 municipalities on Sunday, with the state party chief calling it a "murder of democracy". The police claimed that there has been no widespread violence but only a "few stray incidents". Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, apparently peeved over the allegations of widespread violence, has asked State Election Commissioner Saurab Das to give him a detailed report on the situation on Monday.

PTI Inputs