West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee termed the Bengal bandh called by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday unsuccessful and “congratulated” the people of her state for “not supporting” the shutdown call.
“Congratulations to all the people of Bengal for not supporting the #bandh. #Bengal is only state where bandhs will always fail,” she wrote on Twitter.
Citing the “change” in the work culture of the state, the Trinamool Congress chief added, “Today Bengal has shown the way. Work culture has changed. Negative and destructive work culture has ended.”
Congratulations to all the people of Bengal for not supporting the #bandh. #Bengal is only state where bandhs will always fail. Today Bengal has shown the way. Work culture has changed. Negative and destructive work culture has ended. #NoBandhInBengal #সচলবাংলা
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) September 26, 2018
But BJP leaders from the state took out marches and claimed that their call for a 12-hour bandh to protest the killing of two students in a clash in North Dinajpur district’s Islampur on 21 September was met with a positive response.
Read More: Left demands judicial inquiry, BJP for CBI probe into alleged police firing on students in Islampur
Babul Supriyo, the BJP MP from Asansol, however, said people of the state had extended support to the bandh to protest against “atrocities” of the state government.
“People of West Bengal have come out in support of BJP’s #BanglaBondh and are now standing against the atrocities of @MamataOfficial’s Government. Open-firing on students in Islampur was the last straw for TMC and we will see to it that justice is achieved,” he tweeted.
State BJP president Dilip Ghosh, who led one of the protest marches from Rasbehari Avenue, accused the TMC of deploying hooligans to disrupt the peaceful protest at Pirgacha in North 24 Parganas’ Barasat.
Read More: BJP leaders take out protest marches | Train services disrupted
Meanwhile, the bandh call led to a brief disruption in train services, though bus services remained largely unaffected.
Bandh supporters had squatted on the tracks at Barasat, Krishnagar and some stations in Sealdah division for 5-10 minutes in the morning before the blockade was lifted.
Blockades were also reported from Chengail, Andul and Ramrajatala stations in the Howrah-Kharagpur section of the South Eastern Railway.
The situation in Kolkata and adjoining suburbs was largely normal but the impact of the shutdown was felt in parts of North Dinajpur district.
Massive police deployment was done by the state government in Kolkata and elsewhere in the state to avoid any untoward incident.