Strike hits normal life across West Bengal, its duration cut

Kolkata (PTI): Normal life across West Bengal was hit on wednesday as Forward Bloc, a constituent of the state's Left Front government, enforced a 12-hour general strike protesting the killing of its five activists in police firing.

The strike, whose duration was slashed by half in view of plight of stranded passengers, passed off by and large peacefully.

This was the first time that a ruling alliance partner called a strike against its own government in its 31-year history, reflecting the growing unease in Left Front.

The bandh affected movement of vehicular traffic as almost all modes of public and private transport went off the roads. Only a few government buses and trams plied.

However, air services, metro rail, port operations and the IT sector were unaffected.

Most of the offices were closed but shops in some areas were open.

At the state secretariat, Writers' Buildings, attendance was thin and none of the four ministers of Forward Bloc or those of another LF ally RSP, which supported the bandh, attended office.

Around 1,000 bandh supporters for blocking rail and road traffic and attacking policemen, IGP (Law and Order), Raj Kanojia said.

Those arrested included Forward Bloc MP Hiten Burman for picketing at Mathabhanga in Cooch Behar district and party MLAs Tejamul Hossain at Malda and Niranjan Pandit at Goghat in Hooghly district.

The bandh, called by Forward Bloc to protest the deaths of its activists in police firing at Dinhata in Cooch Behar district on Tuesday, came just three months before the panchayat polls which the party is contesting alone.

The bandh was also supported by main opposition Trinamool Congress and Congress while Left opposition party SUCI extended 'moral support'.

Forward Bloc supporters were lathicharged by police when they resisted removal of road blocks from C R Avenue, Bowbazzar and Dharmatolla areas of Kolkata.

"In some areas, police were also attacked," Kolkata Police Commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakraborty told PTI.

Bandh supporters stoned and damaged buses at Dharmatolla and C R Avenue, he said.

Forward Bloc leader and Left Front minister Robin Ghosh, who is in his late 70s, placed a chair on rail tracks near a level crossing in Howrah district and personally led party supporters in stopping trains.

Asked how being a minister he could personally lead protestors and obstruct train movement, Ghosh replied "I am protesting here as a Forward Bloc leader.

FB state secretary Ashok Ghosh claimed the bandh was a success but was withdrawn from 6:00 pm considering the inconvenience to hundreds of stranded passengers.

He attacked the CPI(M)-led LF government and asked it not to create 'another Nandigram'. "They cannot run the government using the police."

Ghosh, however, ruled out FB quitting the Front saying "the question of walking out of the Left Front government does not arise."

"We want to remain in power with the people's support and not with guns pointed to their heads", he said.

The bandh was described by senior CPI(M) leader Subhas Chakraborty as 'unprecedented' while his party colleague and CITU state president Shyamal Chakraborty claimed it was 'ineffective'.

Home Secretary P R Roy said an administrative inquiry has been ordered into Tuesday's Dinhata police firing.

Meanwhile, the toll in the firing climbed to six with a member of the National Volunteer Force, Krishna Kanta Burman, succumbing to his injuries in hospital at Dinhata during the day, the IGP (Law and Order) said.

The bandh stranded passengers at both Howrah and Sealdah railway stations because of disruption in railway services.

Road blockades were reported from many places in the metropolis and districts, he said.

Subhas Chakraborty, the maverick Sports and Transport minister, said "there was no justification in the police firing at Dinhata on Tuesday. Mob violence could have been contained by some other means. I cannot support such loss of lives".

He also said there was no question of opposing the bandh called by Forward Bloc.

"We did not actively oppose the bandh and ran transport which is only a routine measure," he said.

Major partner of the Left Front, the CPI(M), was, however, dismissive about the bandh affecting LF unity.

"This will not affect Left unity which will remain intact," CPI(M) state secretary and LF chairman Biman Bose told reporters.

He pointed to the bilateral mechanism for resolving differences among partners.

"Talks between CPI(M) and partners (to sort out differences) will continue," Bose said.