Bharat Bandh hits normal life in Bihar

The dawn to dusk Bharat Bandh call given by 13 political parties paralysed normal life in Bihar as more than 4000 bandh supporters, including LJP president Ram Vilas Paswan and other opposition leaders, were rounded up in Patna and other parts of Bihar on April 27, 2010.

The Bandh was called in protest against escalating prices of essential commodities.

Bandh supporters blocked roads, squatted on railway tracks and markets remained closed.
LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan, RJD leader and former Union Minister Jaiprakash Narayan Yadav, RJD state chief Abdul Bari Siddiqui and CPI-ML General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, besides several MLAs and MLCs belonging to various opposition parties in Bihar, were arrested from different parts of the state.

In Patna, shops and major business establishments downed their shutters, long distance buses did not ply, schools and colleges remained closed and traffic was thin on the roads.

Photo: Aftab Alam Siddiqui