Bharat bandh evokes partial response in Northeast

GUWAHATI/AGARTALA: The Bharat bandh called by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha against the three contentious farm laws evoked a partial response in the north-eastern States on Monday.

In Assam, a majority of the offices, both government and private, educational institutions, shops, commercial establishments in many of the 34 districts, including the main commercial hub Guwahati, remained open barring some business establishments.

However, normal life was crippled in southern Assam as government and private offices, shops and markets and all other institutions were shut responding to the country-wide shutdown call from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the afternoon. Vehicular movements were normal in all the districts, except four districts in southern Assam, even as buses were seen plying in lesser numbers in Guwahati and other parts of the BJP-ruled State.

Officials said that air and train services across the north-eastern region were normal and no untoward incident was reported so far.

In Tripura, the shutdown was partial even as the Left parties, Congress and other organizations, who supported the Bharat bandh, did not organize any picketing. The five Left parties led by the CPI-M have campaigned for the past two weeks in support of the nationwide shutdown and its significance.

All Tripura Merchants' Association general secretary Sujit Roy said that thousands of their members had not participated in the strike. In some sub-divisional areas many shops and markets were closed, but in most parts of Tripura life was normal, but presence in government offices, banks and educational institutions were little less.

According to the police there was a minor incident in south Tripura's Belonia where a CPI-M supporter was assaulted by the ruling party activists.

There was almost no response in the other north-eastern States, including Meghalaya and Manipur. The BJP, which opposed the Bharat bandh, has been ruling in four of the eight north-eastern States –Assam, Tripura, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh while its allies are governing in Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim. IANS

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