NEW DELHI: Life in many parts of the country was disrupted on Monday with non-Congress political parties enforcing a nationwide bandh against the increase in fuel prices.
Many schools, colleges and offices were shut across the country and flights were cancelled. The impact of the strikes varied from state to state.
Delhi was partially affected by the strike with reports of BJP workers disrupting movement of vehicles in some parts of the city. However, flights and trains services were functioning normally. Most schools, colleges and offices remained open.
IANS reported that in Mumbai, taxis and most autorickshaws remained off roads, more as a precautionary measure against damage from hooliganism than in support of the shutdown call. Schools, colleges, many private offices remained closed, but the city's lifeline - suburban trains and BEST - were partially affected.
In Pune, 12 city buses were damaged by activists trying to enforce the bandh, a PTI report said. The buses plying in Kothrud and Pimpri area were stopped and stoned, damaging window panes, a spokesman of the Pune municipal corporation said.
Authorities have deployed about 40,000 police personnel on the streets of Mumbai to avert any incidence of violence, PTI added.
Train services were obstructed trains in Patna as several protesters stopped express trains. BJP-ruled Karnataka and state was practically shut down, many software firms closed in Bangalore. There were few autos and taxis on the roads. However, trains were reported to be running normally in the state.
The air services in Kolkata, a leftist bastion, no flights were operating to and from the airport. Many private airlines have cancelled flights till 6 pm. In Orissa, normal life was affected as road and rail services were hit in the state, reports said. Several trains were running late as protesters sat on rail tracks. Although the state government has not ordered closure of schools and colleges, most of them witnessed thin attendance.
On Sunday, NDA working chairperson L K Advani after a meeting of top NDA leaders said, "This may be the first time in the history of India's politics that almost all political parties will participate in the Bharat bandh."
Advani claimed the government had become "insensitive" to price rise and said that though UPA had been espousing the cause of the common man since 2004, prices were on the rise. "Despite so much increase in food prices, the government has increased prices of petroleum products," he said.
Price rise will figure in the forthcoming monsoon session, Advani said, adding that even if prices were not rolled back, it was the responsibility of the Opposition to voice the people's protest.
The government was unfazed, with finance minister Pranab Mukherjee ruling out a relook at the decision to increase prices and Congress slamming what it called "cheap and opportunistic politics at the cost of the nation".
What can provide edge to the protest this time is that both the BJP-led NDA and Left are a part of the action on Monday, raising the possibility of serious disruptions in states where non-Congress governments are in power.
The BJP and the Left have worked hard to pre-empt any perception of a collaboration, to deny Congress an opportunity to accuse CPM of a partnership with "communal forces".
But the competition among Opposition parties to emerge as the main vehicle of the popular unease over price rise is likely to lead them to put their best agitational foot forward on Monday.
Emergency services will not be disrupted during the strike. Advani appealed to all NDA members participating in the strike to ensure that it was conducted peacefully.
Source:timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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