Bharat Bandh given by the Opposition Congress party in wake of increasing prices of petroleum products evoked mixed response in the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home-State Gujarat on Monday.
In the biggest city of the State Ahmedabad educational institutes remained closed. However, petrol pumps and majority markets in the commercial capital of the State remained open. However in some areas, Congress workers forcefully closedown petrol pumps. Schools also remained closed in other major cities like Rajkot, Surat and Mehsana.
Interestingly State Government schools remained open in these cities. Protesting Congress workers blocked roads in Chhota Udepur, Surat and Bharuch areas.
In some places they burnt old tyres and as result of it ST bus services were adversely affected in parts of Gujarat.
Though there was no major untoward incident reported, more than 300 Congress workers were detained by the police as part of precautionary measure. Among those detainees were Gujarat Congress in-charge Rajiv Satav and Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee president Amit Chavda. They were detained from Lal Darwaja area of Ahmedabad. Leader of Opposition in Gujarat Assembly Paresh Dhanani was detained from his home-town in Amreli by the police when he set on protest.
While BJP spokesman IK Jadeja claimed that the nationwide Bandh given by 21 opposition party led by main opposition Congress measurably failed in Gujarat, the Gujarat Congress spokesman Manish Doshi said that the Bandh got overwhelming response in the state. According to Doshi, the Bandh given by his party was 100 per cent successful. He, however accepted that in some places Congress workers tried to close down business establishment, but they never resorted to violence.
In the state capital Gandhinagar, there was minimal impact of Bharat Bandh as most of the educational institutions and commercial establishment remained open. In other cities like Vadodara, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Junagadh etc. it was mixed response as some pockets dominated by Congress party remained closed, but in other places it was a normal day.