The Chhattisgarh Congress has called for a State-wide bandh on Friday to protest against the Jeeram carnage. Pradesh Congress president Bhupesh Baghel and leader of the Opposition TS Singhdeo, appealing to all sections to make the bandh a success, accused the BJP-led State government of failure to protect the lives of the people.
In a joint statement on Thursday, they asked business houses, government employees, transport unions, petrol pump owners and others to support the bandh. Expressing concern over the repeated attacks in Bastar by Naxals, they said that fear prevailed in the State due to extremist violence and people were feeling unsafe in Chhattisgarh.
They said that the bandh had been called to expose the failure of the State government in controlling the Naxal menace. Paying tributes to the martyrs of the Jeeram massacre, they said that while States like Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal had succeeded in controlling the Naxal menace to a great extent, in the past 10 years Chhattisgarh had only become a 'Naxalgarh.'
PCC media cell in-charge Mahendra Chhabra claimed that the Chhattisgarh Chamber of Commerce (CCCI), Chhattisgarh Yatayat Mahasangh, Chhattisgarh Truck Owners' Association, Chhattisgarh Auto Sangh, Chhattisgarh Bus Conductors' Association, Chhattisgarh Parivahan Sangh, Chhattisgarh Bar Association and others had extended their support to the bandh.
He said emergency services, schools and colleges have been exempted from the bandh considering the ongoing exams.