Bandh to protest fuel hike, FDI evokes mixed response

A bandh called by the BJP, the Left parties and UPA's outside supporter, the Samajwadi Party (SP), to protest diesel price hike and FDI in multi-brand retail on Thursday evoked mixed response with life being disrupted in some states and top leaders courting arrest.

 Protesters blocked trains and road traffic in many areas in Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and other places and staged demonstrations. However, no major untoward incident was reported. While in Delhi most of the markets remained closed and traffic was disrupted at some places, the bandh evoked little response in the country's commercial hub Mumbai owing to Ganesh festivities across Maharashtra.

Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) kept away from the day-long bandh due to the festival. SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Left leaders Prakash Karat and AB Bardhan courted arrest after holding a joint demonstration in New Delhi. The leaders of the SP, four Left parties, the JD(S), the TDP and the BJD marched to the Parliament Street Police Station along with supporters and courted arrest.

Besides Yadav, Karat (CPI-M) and Bardhan (CPI), other prominent leaders who courted arrested included Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), Chandrababu Naidu (TDP) and HD Deve Gowda (JD-S). BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu and Shahnawaz Hussain were taken into preventive custody in Hyderabad.

In New Delhi, Yechury and Bardhan shared the dais with BJP's Nitin Gadkari and Murli Manohar Joshi. Normal life was disrupted in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh but evoked partial response in other states.

Shops in some areas in Delhi were open in the morning hours but big markets remained shut.