Impact of bandh felt most in NDA, Left states
The Bharat Bandh paralysed life in the states ruled by the NDA and the Left parties. Gujarat witnessed a near total bandh. Similarly, the response to the bandh call was total in the Madhya Pradesh capital, Bhopal. Its impact was also felt in Chhattisgarh where life was completely paralysed. The bandh called by the Left Front brought West Bengal to a grinding halt.
In Gujarat, schools, colleges, business establishments and courts remained closed. Bus services were disrupted in all the major cities in the state, leaving commuters stranded on the first day of the week. The BJP government led by chief minister Narendra Modi made “misuse of CBI by the Centre” an issue for the Bandh.
In West Bengal, empty roads in Kolkata presented a surreal picture. The City of Joy looked like a ghost city. Old-timers agreed that after a very long time the city witnessed such a total bandh. On the last few occasion, common people had come out of their homes and went to their work places defying the bandh. But on Monday, they remained indoors. And many taking advantage of an extended weekend, went for a holiday to Digha and Sundarbans.
The medically ill were the worst affected by the bandh in Chhattisgarh because cardiac patients and persons suffering from other ailments had to travel to hospitals in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh for treatment. Several of them lay motionless at railway stations, with their families or relatives watching on helplessly.
In UP, schools and colleges in most cities, including the capital Lucknow, remained open but during shops and commercial establishments observed a complete shutdown.
SP workers stopped several trains, including the Ganga Gomti Express in Allahabad and the Magadh Express in Mughalsarai. Six persons were arrested in this connection. The Agra-Kanpur passenger train also was detained by the protesters.
The response to the bandh call was total in the Bhopal. The bandh was peaceful elsewhere, barring stray incidents in Indore.
In Delhi, BJP activists disrupted the public transport at various places by deflating the tyres of the DTC buses and blocking roads for a few hours. At places such as Dabri, the BJP activists deflated the tyres of some 25 DTC buses and also tried to set one of them on fire.
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