People's Democracy

Bihar: Left-Sponsored Bandh Turns Successful

THE Bihar bandh call, given by seven Left parties, evoked spontaneous and good response from the people across the state on January 7. These parties are the CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML), Forward Bloc, RSP, SUCI and MCPI.

From the state capital Patna down to the block level, common people joined the protest by observing the bandh. Private and public transport remained off the road and the shops and business establishments downed their shutters. Rail traffic was also disrupted throughout the state, particularly in the Patna-Gaya section and at Samastipur, Darbhanga, Motihari, Begusarai, Muzaffarpur and other places. The agitating workers of the Left parties squatted on the rail tracks, which affected the movements of long and short distance trains.

The major demands on which the bandh was organised included publication of the reports of former DGP Ojha regarding RJD MP Shahabuddin, of the Amir Das commission report on Ranveer Sena, and a white paper on the politician-police-criminal nexus.  The Left parties also demanded opening of centres for sale of agricultural produce at different levels and employment for the unemployed.

That the suffering masses of Bihar endorsed these five demands raised by the Left parties was evident in the peaceful and spontaneous response the bandh evoked. The masses are clearly fed up with the everyday spectacle of the politician-police-criminal nexus.

The Sampoorna Vikas Party, led by Ranjan Yadav, also participated in the bandh. The former finance minister Shankar Tekariwal lent his support to the bandh by courting arrest along with his supporters under the banner of Merchant Struggle Committee. The NCP also supported the bandh call.

In Patna, the Left parties took out processions from various parts of the city, covering the main thoroughfares, and all these processions converged at the Dak Bungalow roundabout. The CPI(M) procession started from its Patna district office under the leadership of its state secretary Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi. Others who joined the procession were the party’s state secretariat members Arun Kumar Mishra and Awadhesh Kumar, state committee member Ras Bihari Singh, and district committee members and cadres.

Thousands of workers of the sponsoring Left parties courted arrest throughout Bihar. Prominent among them were the CPI(M) state secretary Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, Arun Kumar Mishra, Awadhesh Kumar and Vijaykant Thakur, CPI state secretary Jalaluddin Ansai, CPI(ML) state secretary Ram Jatan Sharma, Forward Bloc state secretary Nripendra Kirshna Mahto, RSP state secretary Tarkant Prakash, SUCI leader Shiv Shankar Singh, and MCPI leader Bijay Choudhury.

There was a significant participation of cultural activists, under different banners, in enforcing this bandh. Hundreds of cultural activists sang revolutionary songs, chanted slogans, danced and clapped all the way to Dak Bungalow roundabout. They enacted street plays at select venues on the route of the processions. Prerna, a unit of Janwadi Sanskritik Morcha, played a vital role in mobilising the other cultural groups for the bandh. This participation of cultural activists enthused the cadres participating in the bandh.

Later the seven Left parties, through a joint statement, thanked the people for their enthusiastic response to the call for bandh and called upon them to fight unitedly against the nexus of politicians, the police and criminals. (INN)