KOLKATA: Sporadic violence was reported in several areas of West Bengal on Wednesday during BJP's statewide bandh call given against killing of two students at Darivit High School in Uttar Dinajpur district on September 20.
While government buses were torched in Islampur, Jhargram and Kolkata allegedly by BJP workers, police and BJP workers clashed at several places and bandh enforcement were broken. Several BJP workers and leaders were detained. Train movements were affected in Seldah division of Eastern Railways and Howrah-Kharagpur and Howrah-Burdwan lines.
However, police removed the protesters from the railway tracks and recommenced the train services. Terming the bandh as a 'complete success', state BJP president Dilip Ghosh called off the 12-hour shutdown two hours before stipulated time. "People have given good response to the bandh call making it a success. Police have attacked our supporters at several places. We suspect that Trinamool Congress workers burned the state buses themselves and put the blame on us," he said.
On the other hand, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee congratulated people for not supporting the bandh. "Bengal is the only state where bandh never succeeds. The work culture of the state has changed. Negative and destructive work culture has been shelved," she tweeted from Italy.
Two students Rajesh Sarkar and Tapan Barman were shot dead during an agitation against appointment of Urdu teachers in Darivit High School on September 20. While opposition parties blamed the firing on police, the state government stated that police did not open fire on the protesters and blamed the incident on BJP and RSS workers.