BJP’s 12-hour Bengal Bandh hits normal life

Bhubaneswar: The BJP called 12-hour badh in West Bengal on today. This has made a major impact on normal life in pockets of the state. The strike from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. has been called to condemn police action on the protesters who participated in the ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ (March to Bengal Secretariat) rally on Tuesday. The march was called to protest against the ghastly rape and murder of a woman doctor on the premises of state-run R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata earlier this month.

The worst affected were suburban train services both at the Howrah and two sections of the Sealdah divisions, as BJP supporters blocked the railway at several places. Due to this, several local trains remained static for a long time there. At several places, there were minor scuffles between BJP supporters and the police personnel as the latter tried to remove the blockades. In many places, the BJP supporters even sat on the railway tracks and the police personnel had a tough time in removing them. At the time the report was filed reports of rail blockades had surfaced from different pockets of West Bengal, including South 24 Parganas, Hooghly, Murshidabad, Nadia and North 24 Parganas.