Stop says the red, go says the green

The twelve and ten hour bandhs called by the Left and the BJP draw mixed response in Bengal

The infamous 'bandh' culture of Bengal came back to haunt the state once again as the city woke up to empty roads even as the government went all out to foil the strike. The 12 and 10 hour strikes called by the Left and the BJP against "rigging in polls" coincide with a countrywide strike called by the trade unions against the central transportation bill.

The administration has arranged has for large number of buses to make up for the private buses which were absent from the road. While state government buses are plying as usually, they are mostly empty with very few passengers travelling. Prominent parts of the city wore a deserted look even at peak hour. Shops were closed in the busy areas of Gariahat, Esplanade, Park Circus and Jadavpur. The suburban and metro facilities are functioning were functioning normally but passenger numbers were substantially thin. Various incidents of disruptions in train movement were reported as bandh supporters tried to demonstrate on railway tracks.

Both sidesclaimed victory at the end of the bandh hours."People stepped out of their house, universities conducted exams, there was normalcy, the opposition has no organisational strength, neither do the have people's support," said Partha Chatterjee, general secretary of AITMC.

The opposition on the other hand said that strike got popular support. "The strike received support across the state which is a response to the tyranny of ruling party,"said CPI(M) leader Biman Bose.

The bandh was being seen as a prestige war by both the government and the opposition camp, which if the strike is successful will showcase it as a case of public support to their claims of violence.

There were public announcement by the government to keep life normal- an unprecedented incident. "Do not support the bandh, the administration is responsible for your safety and we will compensate any shops or cars ransacked in the strike," Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had told yesterday.

One of the worst effected was the taxi service as (Centre of Indian Trade Unions) CITU-backed taxi unions kept their vehicles off the road.

Large queues were seen in front of Howrah railway station where passengers were left stranded due to lack ofcabs. "This is a movement against the draconian transportation bill and also against the undemocratic civic polls, it has been well supported by thepublic," claimed state president of CITU Shyamal Chakraborty. Kolkata has around 35,000 cabs out of which most of them are affiliated to the Trinamool-backed Bengal taxi Union. People in the know said that Transport Minister Madan Mitra's absence had a profound impact as Mitra used to be the pivot between the government and the taxi unions.

Stray incidents of violencewere also reported from the districts as Trinamool Congress supporters clashedwith opposition cadres and many arrested by the police.