BJP's Bengal bandh call evokes mixed response

Kolkata/Jalpaiguri: The 12-hour state-wide bandh call by BJP over "widespread rigging and violence" during civic elections in West Bengal evoked a mixed response on Monday.

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.

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 detailed report on the situation on Monday.