Bharat Bandh: What all you need to know?

Congress party with the help and support of 20 other parties called for a nationwide “Bharat Bandh” on Monday, 10th September 2018 from 9 am to 3 pm. The protest was against the present Modi government for demands related to an immediate reduction of central excise duty and VAT and also for bringing petrol and diesel under the extent of GST. The opposition had claimed a 50 per cent hike in the price of petrol since 2014.

                                                                                                                                              Credits: jansatta.com

Various parties like Samajwadi Party, Janta Dal (S), Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, AAP and DMK gave a nod to join hands in the bandh against the government including the left wing parties which also called for nationwide hartal. The bandh was observed in various states including Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Tamil Nadu with the help of regional party oppositions while some states like Andhra Pradesh and Telangana saw a mixed response.

At 11 am on 10th September, Monday, Congress President Rahul Gandhi along with Sonia Gandhi, Ashok Gehlot, Ghulam Nabi Azad and other opposition leaders led the protest from Rajghat, where he paid tribute to the father of the nation and then began the march towards Ramleela Maidan. In his speech at Ramleela Maidan Rahul Gandhi attacked the government on being silent about the price rise an weakening of the rupee. Sitaram Yechury wrote, “ Fuel prices allowed to soar by a callous government is making lives of ordinary Indian impossible” and slammed the government by calling the government as “ anti-people” which led to joining hands by the opposition.

Photo: PTI

Although, the Congress leaders pleaded for a non-violent protest, as Randeep Surjewala stated that the timings are such that “common man was not to be inconvenienced”, some states saw a high amount of functional paralysis. Barring a few states like Madhya Pradesh, the bandh took a violent form in which 14 buses were vandalised in Mumbai, and Bihar also saw several cases of violence in many districts including Patna. Blockades of transport were also seen in some states where several National highways were blocked. Protesters also stopped the functioning of many trains in Bihar where they blocked the rail tracks. Odisha saw the cancellation of 12 trains by east coast railway also leading to the shutting down of Konark temple for visits today. Charged of leading a violent protest, 400 picketers were arrested in Tripura and 58 in Jharkhand. Stone pelting was also reported from union territories like Pondicherry. Ambulances were also reportedly stopped due to the protests which led to several deaths including the death of a 2-year-old in Bihar.

Bhartiya Janta Party replied to this protest as one which is creating unnecessary violent situations throughout the country leading to disruption in the functioning of the democracy. Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Union Law Minister said that it is not in the hands of the government to control the prices of petrol and whatever measures that can be taken by the government will be taken. Yogi Adityanath in this regard called the opposition party as “frustrated”

Receiving support from many parts of the country former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urged all the parties to join hands, shedding their differences against the present government as to save democracy. In response to the protest, Andhra Government which today had arrested 100 congressmen during the protest announced a reduction of 2 rupees in petrol starting from Tuesday.

photo: PTI

The highlight remains that Mamata Banerjee who is always is in staunch opposition of Modi government refused the bandh in Bengal and on the other hand for the very first time we saw the former president of Congress party Sonia Gandhi coming out on streets. 

Author: Vaishnavi Singh