A bandh called by NDA, Left parties and Samajwadi Party to protest against diesel price hike, FDI in multi-brand retail and cap on subsidised LPG on Thursday evoked mixed response as protesters disrupted road and rail traffic in parts of UP, Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha but it had little impact in Mumbai.



Opposition leaders came together at Jantar Mantar in the national capital to denounce the decision to allow FDI in multi-brand retail trade.



"This is only the beginning, our struggle will continue till the decision is reversed," said BJP president Nitin Gadkari.





BJP President Nitin Gadkari addressing crowd at Jantar Mantar.



"The tragedy is that our prime minister (Manmohan Singh) has begun to worship the US," Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury said to loud cheers.

Among others who gathered at the Jantar Mantar protest venue were BJP's Murli Manohar Joshi, Communist Party of India's A.B. Bardhan and Janata Dal-United leader Sharad Yadav.



Sharad Yadav, "Advani has said right that this in not a legal govt. This is worst situation after emergency. Manmohan ne logo ke pet par tala laga diya hai and it is worst situation after Independence."

Meanwhile, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, Prakash Karat, A B Bardhan, Sitaram Yechury and TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu courted arrest at the Parliament street in Delhi. They were later released.

Slamming Opposition for calling the nationwide bandh, Congress leader and Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni expressed her unhappiness with the bandh. She was particularly critical of the Trinamool Congress.



"I am surprised an alliance partner would (protest) because they are privy to all decisions," she said.



"It is a very difficult decision for any government to take. We have tried to assure everybody that there is no other way to keep the economy on track," she added.



In Delhi:

Local commuter buses and Metro rail services functioned normally on Thursday morning, despite a strike call by the opposition parties.





BJP activists shout slogans during a protest along a railway track in New Delhi.

Auto-rickshaws also seemed to ply normally on the capital's streets. Some private schools had declared a holiday to avoid inconvenience to children.



At city markets, it was business as usual.



Delhi Police, however, have geared to meet the challenges that a bandh call might pose. "In view of Bharat Bandh, police is ready to deal with any untoward incident," Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said.

Around 20 pro-bandh supporters were also detained by the police near Vikas Marg in Delhi.



In Uttar Pradesh:

Samajwadi Party workers on Thursday held demonstrations in some parts of Uttar Pradesh and stopped a train in Allahabad in support of the bandh against FDI in retail and hike in diesel prices.



Raising slogans against FDI in retail, a group of workers held a demonstration outside the Walmart store at Sultanpur here.





SP activists block a railway track in Allahabad.



A group of workers also held a protest outside Divisional Railway Manager's office in Hazratganj.



Reports of similar protests also poured in from other districts including Allahabad where activists of the youth wing of the ruling SP stopped the Bareilly-bound Triveni Express at 5.30 AM on Niranjan railway bridge.



They protesters assembled in large numbers along the railway tracks and also burnt the effigies of the Prime Minister and Congress President Sonia Gandhi.



The agitation delayed the onward journey of the train by an hour.



Senior SP leaders including SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav are likely to hold a protest later in the day against hike in diesel and LPG prices and allowing FDI in retail.



In Maharashtra:

The trading community downed shutters of shops and commercial establishments on Thursday, but Mumbai suburban trains, BEST buses, public transport and flights operated normally during the opposition-sponsored all-India shutdown, officials said.





Police detain BJP activists during Bharat Bandh in Mumbai.

The shutdown call was given by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and supported by various parties like Samajwadi Party, JD(U), SAD, TDP, Left parties, transporters and others, to protest the hike in diesel prices, a cap on subsidised cooking gas cylinders and allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail.

However, the National Democratic Alliance's key ally in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena has not joined the shutdown, while the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena also opted out on grounds of the ongoing 10-day Ganeshotsav festival.



The BJP Pune unit also refrained from joining the shutdown on account of Ganeshotsav and the Jain festival of Paryushan.



Adopting an aggressive stance vis-a-vis government policies, the BJP, led by senior leader Gopinath Munde and others will attempt to 'lock' the gates of Mantralaya, the state government headquarters, at Nariman Point later in the day.



Spokespersons for the Mumbai International Airport Ltd, Air India and the railways said that all operations were normal with no disruptions of any sort due to the shutdown.



There has been no impact of the shutdown barring some pockets in the state where the BJP has influence.



In West Bengal:

Life in the city and elsewhere in West Bengal was disrupted by a 12-hour bandh called by the Left.



Though airport services were normal, train services in Eastern Railway and South Eastern Railway were disrupted, officials said.



Bandh supporters at Patna railway station.

Running of trains in South Eastern Railway to and from Howrah were disrupted since 8.30 am due to obstruction caused by protesters at Ramrajatala station.



Howrah-Pune Duranto Express, which started from Howrah on time, was stopped by the squatters here, railway sources said.



Very few private buses were on the road but taxis were mostly off the roads in view of their 72-hour strike starting on Thursday in support of fare price hike. State-run buses and trams plied normally.



Educational institutions, shops and business establishments were by and large closed in the city.



In Tamil Nadu:

It was a mixed response in Tamil Nadu to the opposition sponsored nationwide shutdown on Thursday with buses plying on the roads and government offices as well as educational institutions functioning. But shops remained shut and trucks did not run.





A man rests in front of a closed shop during a nationwide strike in Jammu.

Banking/insurance operations were affected as majority of the staff did not report for work.



In Tamil Nadu, DMK, the two Left parties and others have supported the shutdown while the ruling AIADMK government though voicing its opposition to the centre's measures has not supported the shutdown.

In Andhra Pradesh:

In Andhra, the bandh evoked near total response. Buses of state-owned Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) went off the roads in most parts of the state.



The road transport came to a grinding halt with over four lakh trucks across the state joining the 24-hour strike since midnight.



A section of auto-rickshaw drivers in Hyderabad and other towns too joined the strike.



Shops, business establishments and educational institutions were closed in several parts of Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, Nellore, Tirupati, Kurnool, Karimnagar and other towns.



Police arrested scores of opposition workers who were trying to stop buses and forcing shops to down shutters.



In Hyderabad, almost all schools and colleges were closed. The RTC was running few buses while some three-wheelers were also seen plying.

In Bihar:

In Bihar, a group of BJP workers blocked rail traffic at Patna junction and stopped movement of a number of long distance express and passenger trains, official sources said.



The protesters shouted slogans against the UPA government at the Centre demanding roll back of FDI in multi-brand retail and diesel price hike.



There were reports of road blockade and disruption in train services from several districts from Bihar, the sources said.



--- With agencies inputs

