Hyped-stir fails to stir up masses

THE SAMAJWADI Party-sponsored general evoked a partial response in many parts of the State. However, it evoked a near total response in Varanasi, where normal life was thrown out of gear. The SP and Leftist activists took to the streets in protest against the petro price hike in the temple town. Shops and business establishments were closed. Attendence in government and private offices was thin due to lack of transport.

THE SAMAJWADI Party-sponsored general evoked a partial response in many parts of the State. However, it evoked a near total response in Varanasi, where normal life was thrown out of gear.

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The SP and Leftist activists took to the streets in protest against the petro price hike in the temple town. Shops and business establishments were closed. Attendence in government and private offices was thin due to lack of transport.

“The bandh was a total success and it demostrated the public’s strong opposition to the hike in prices of petroleum products,” SP city president Rakesh Jain said.

Surprisingly, life in Gazipur was normal, barring a chakka jam at a railway crossing for some time. This was so though Gazipur is a stronghold of the ruling Samajwadi Party. In Chandauli, the shops were closed as Tuesday was a holiday for traders. There were reports of a chakka jam from Mau. However, commercial activities were not affected.

“The bandh was peaceful with no report of any untoward incident from any part of the division,” inspector general of police (IGP) AC Sharma told the Hindustan Times.

Gorakhpur: Amidst stray incidents of scuffle and loot, the strike evoked a good response. Shops and and business establishments remained closed. The SP activists stopped the Jansewa Express at Surajkund crossing for at least 40 minutes and blocked movement of traffic at national highway no. 28 near Nausarh crossing. State minister Jaiprakash Yadav led the road blockade. The SP activists looted around half-a-dozen shops at three places, including the railway station and Dharmshala Bazar. An undeclared curfew like situation was witnessed in various markets. The SP activists tried to damage a petrol pump, which was open. However, no FIR was lodged.

Faizabad: The general strike evoked a partial response in the twin cities of Faizabad and Ayodhya. Most of the shops and business establishments remained closed, as did petrol pumps. A public rally was held at Collectorate compound, which was addressed by Health Minister Ahmad Hasan, among others. There was no report of any untoward incident.

Pratapgarh: Party activists squatted on the tracks at Bhupiaman railway crossing for about two hours and detained the Sarju Express. They blocked Allahabad-Faizabad road for two hours at Chowk Ghantagarh and for half an hour before the Collectorate.

Jaunpur: All shops and business establishments remained closed in the city. Samajwadi Party MP Paras Nath Yadav contacted the office-bearers and advocates of both the Civil Court and the Collectorate Bar Associations.

Yesterday, a resolution had been passed to abstain from judicial work today.

The strike appeared to have evoked almost a total response.

Lakhimpur Kheri: The city traders observed a partial bandh. There were minor disputes between some traders and SP activists. Samajwadi Party workers of the district staged a massive demonstration at the local Willoughby Hall. They also marched through the throughfares of the city. Samajwadi Yuvjan Sabha (SYS) leaders and activists detained the Lucknow-bound Ruhelkhand Express and demonstrated at a railway crossing.

Meerut: Party leaders sat on a dharna at the Collectorate, along with minister Shahid Manzoor, former MLA Amit Aggarwal and Gopal Aggarwal. They held the Congress responsible for price rise. Majority of shops, petrol pumps, and cinemas remained closed.

Azamgarh: The strike evoked a partial response. Shops remained closed, but traffic flow was normal. Roadways buses left the stations after 1 pm. Some of the party’s youth activists stopped the Mumbai-bound Godan Express for about half-an-hour.

Siddharthnagar: Most of the shops remained closed before noon. Trains were stopped at Naugarh railway station for three hours. Plying of Roadways buses was disrupted for several hours. Ruling party activists forced shopkeepers to pull down their shutters. But, the shops reopened, as soon as the party workers left the area.

Mainpuri: The strike paralyzed commercial activities . All entrances to the city were blocked by SP activists. Trains, Roadways buses, trucks, four-wheelers and two-wheelers were stopped.

The SP activists deflated tyres of four-wheelers, two-wheelers and bicycles of commuters. Lawyers, traders and intellectuals joined the strike.

Muzaffarnagar: Passengers of the Delhi-bound Shalimar Express were witness to high drama enacted by the Samajwadi Party workers enforcing the general strike called by them. A few dozen activists made a show of detaining the train at the Muzaffarnagar railway station for about twenty minutes. The train was already running late by about three hours.

Ironically, policemen outnumbered the protesters.

After the train reached the station, someone informed a senior leader who rushed to the spot, apparently just so that she could be photographed trying to stop the train.

Sant Kabir Nagar: The SP workers detained the Rapti Sagar Express and a goods train at Khalilabad railway station. Police intervention allowed the trains to proceed after two and a half hours.

Later, a general strike was observed in Khalilabad town. Most business establishments and petrol pumps were closed.

Meanwhile, the Vaishali Express from New Delhi to Barauni, the Gorakhpur –Gonda passenger and a goods train wee detained at the Basti railway station for about one hour fifteen minutes on Tuesday morning by several hundred Samajwadi Party workers led by their district chief Rajaram Yadav. The party workers shouted slogans against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

The whole of the Basti town observed the strike. Even petrol pumps and tea stalls were closed. The SP workers took a round of Basti town and requested traders to close their business establishments.

Police and PAC personnel were deployed in Basti to maintain law and order.
Several hundred SP workers blocked the Basti-Faizabad national highway near Murghat chauraha road.