The West Bengal government has urged the people of Bengal not to participate in the strike. “The government will not allow any bandh on Wednesday.
Bengal Bandh: In protest against the ‘brutal’ police action against “peaceful” protesters during the Nabanna Abhijan’ in Kolkata on Tuesday, the Bengal unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has called 12-hours Bengal Bandh today. On Tuesday, Kolkata witnessed widespread violence with streets gripping with chaos Following the incident, Union minister and West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumder called for a “12-hour bandh” in the state.
Meanwhile, the West Bengal government has urged the people of Bengal not to participate in the strike. “The government will not allow any bandh on Wednesday. We urge people not to participate in it. All steps shall be taken to ensure that normal life is unaffected,” said Alapan Bandopadhyay, the chief advisor to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Shortly afterward, the state issued a notification stating that all government offices would remain open and all employees, except those facing exigencies or are on leave, would have to report for duty on August 28 or face show-cause for their unauthorised absence.
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What’s open and what’s closed?
- Schools and colleges are likely to stay open
- Government offices and banks are likely to stay open
- The bandh is likely to affect the traffic
- Essential services like medical care, drinking water, public transport, rail services, and electricity are also likely to function normally.
- The BJP has reportedly called on business organisations to keep markets closed.
BJP Terms Police Action on Protesters as ‘Brutal’, Threatens to Stall West Bengal
Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday alleged that police resorted to “brutal repression” on peaceful participants of the ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ rally, and threatened to stall West Bengal if the “brutalities” by state administration were not stopped.
“Police are using water cannon on peaceful protestors at Santragachi, burst tear gas shells on the students at Howrah Bridge, lathicharged them at College Street. Please stop these brutalities immediately,” the senior BJP leader told reporters.
Adhikari said, “If the police repression is not stopped immediately, we (BJP) will stall West Bengal tomorrow.”
“An alarming situation has been created by this administration. Scores of protestors have been injured. If the commissioner of police Vineet Goyal and the DGP don’t stop such brutalities, we will not sit idle. I am going to Howrah station en route to Belur Math as I don’t want to break law. We are not joining the Chhatra Samaj movement as they had asked us not to come to the forefront but we are with them,” he said.
Adhikari said over 8,000 policemen were deployed by Kolkata Police to prevent peaceful students from demanding justice on road.
