Shutdown call by upper castes & OBC against draconian provisions gets low response elsewhere
Bharat Bandh called by some upper caste and OBC outfits on Thursday got massive response in the poll-bound Hindi heartland States of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan as well as politically crucial States of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. But the shutdown had lukewarm impact elsewhere in the country.
Nearly 50 outfits had called the one-day bandh to protest against the amendment last month to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The amendment Bill passed by Parliament had nullified the ‘safeguards’ ordered by the Supreme Court against arrests without a preliminary enquiry under the SC/ST law.
Incidentally in Varanasi, which is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Parliamentary constituency, the bandh call received an overwhelming response with majority of shops remaining closed.
Trains were stopped and highways blocked briefly in Bihar while shops downed shutters in some northern States to protest against the recent amendment to the SC/ST Act. Shops, schools and other commercial establishments were closed in parts of Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.
While Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan appealed to the people saying the State is an island of peace and no one should try to disrupt the harmony, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said the bandh has no meaning.
Six policemen were hurt when they confronted protesters blocking traffic in UP’s Ballia district. In Agra too, protesters blocked traffic and shops remained shut. But the bandh was largely peaceful in the State.
However, a report from Ballia said BJP MLA from Bairia, Surendra Singh, came out openly in support of the bandh.
“Upper caste people made me the MLA and not Muslims and Dalits. I am ready to sacrifice for the upper caste. If my upper caste supporters ask me I can also resign (from my seat) for their sake,” Singh said.
Some bandh supporters had heated arguments with another BJP MLA, Anand Swarup Shukla from Ballia Sadar, who refused to back them. Ballia Superintendent of Police Sriparna Ganguly said some people resorted to brick-batting in which six policemen were injured. Normal life was also affected in Agra.
Adityanath stated that the BJP Government is committed towards the welfare of people and development. “We never play politics of caste and religion. The law is to protect the downtrodden. The Government will ensure that it will not be misused,” Adityanath told reporters in Gonda.
There were scattered incidents of violence, mainly in Bihar, where bandh supporters stormed Patna’s Rajendra Nagar terminus and disrupted the movement of trains for about 30 minutes. Trains were briefly disrupted in Rajgir also as commercial establishments remained closed in many parts of Bihar.
Shops and commercial establishments remained largely closed in Bihar’s capital Patna, but banks and Government offices functioned normally. Protesters gathered before the Bihar BJP headquarters, raising slogans over the “betrayal” by the party. Some of them also headed towards the office of the Janata Dal (United), a BJP ally.
The bandh supporters attacked Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, MP in Muzaffarpur and former Minister and JD(U) legislator Shyam Rajak in Begusarai. Yadav who was going to Madhubani was attacked near Khabra on the outskirts of Muzaffarpur with bricks and spears. The independent MP from Madhepura alleged it was a conspiracy to eliminate him. All the vehicles following him came under heavy brickbatting and their screens were smashed. While narrating the incident to the media Yadav broke down and said it was only the luck that he was alive.
Rajak, a national secretary of the JD(U) and prominent Dalit face of the party, said his car was attacked in Begusarai and his bodyguard was injured. Later, he went to Balia and registered a case with the police about attack on him.
Congress MLA Siddharatha Sharma was stopped by bandh enforcers near Naubatpur in rural Patna. When the muscle-flexing legislator and his men tried to get away the locals stopped and there were verbal duel between them. Sensing the angry mood of the bandh supporters the MLA retreated hastily.
A police officer was injured during clash between supporters of bandh and the police party. ASP Sanjiv Kumar has rushed to Vena village to control the rampaging crowd where stones were hurled at him. A profusely bleeding cop was rushed to hospital where his condition was stated to be stable.
In Ara, police resorted to lathicharge at several places. At Jagdeo Nagar, the police were attacked by protesters and in retaliation policemen chased the attackers.
The bandh call evoked a strong response in Rajasthan where many shops and businesses, schools and other educational institutions remained closed on Thursday. Shops were shut in Jaipur, Karauli, Pratapgarh, Udaipur, Pali, Nagaur and other districts in the State.
Most private schools and petrol pumps remained closed in Madhya Pradesh while markets and business establishments in parts of the State were shut. Police said the bandh was observed in a peaceful manner.
Brahma Samagam Sawarna Jankalyan Sangathan’s national president Dharmendra Sharma said about 150 organisations of the upper castes and Other Backward Class participated in the bandh in Madhya Pradesh. He claimed the bandh was effective in almost the entire State, particularly in Katni, Vidisha, Sehore, Dewas, Indore, Gwalior, Jhabua, Chhattarpur, Mandsaur, Sagar and Ujjain.
In Punjab and Haryana, there was little response to the bandh with people keeping their businesses open in most areas, reports said. But in Punjab’s Phagwara shops and commercial establishments remained shut.