Life in Mumbai comes to a standstill

The nationwide bandh (shutdown) called by Hindu nationalist groups yesterday paralysed life in Mumbai, more because of fears that violence would erupt especially since the Shiv Sena was participating in it.

However, the day went off peacefully except for sporadic incidents when activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) stopped the movement of trains, buses and private vehicles though most people did not venture out in their cars.

The total shutdown included offices, banks, shops, schools, colleges and restaurants. Though the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Delhi had made an official statement that the party would not be part of the shutdown, the state party activists supported it actively.

"The bandh is the only way of showing our protest against the killing of innocent people in the Swaminarayan Temple in Gandhinagar and also send a message to the central government to act quickly against terrorism," said Shankar Gaikar of Bajrang Dal.

"If the government feels helpless under such a situation, they should give up power. After all, it is the duty of the government to protect its citizens," he said.

According to Atul Bhatkalkar, general secretary of the BJP, "The bandh signifies the peoples' demand to settle this issue of terrorism with Pakistan once and for all."

Maulana Kashmiri of the All India Ulema Council said the Council did not "support the bandh as it was a political bandh and we have no political affiliation. We did, however, express our condemnation of the attack on the temple at a large multi-religious meeting on Wednesday."

No religion, particularly Islam, approves acts of terror against innocent people, least of all women and children, and that too in a place of worship, he said.

"On Friday, mosques in Mumbai will denounce the terrorist attack in the temple and pray for peace," he said.

The Congress party and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the main constituents of the Democratic Front government, did not support the bandh, though Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, also in charge of the home ministry, said the government will not stop the bandh.

In neighbouring Pune city, there were several incidents of stone-throwing with five drivers of the Pune public transport injured even as 24 buses were damaged.

The police in Pune carried out 223 preventive arrests.

Meanwhile, as most of Mumbai stayed indoors taking a day off, there were stray incidents of stone-throwing in Byculla, Andheri, Shivaji Nagar, Mulund, Borivli and Cuffe Parade where the driver of a Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) bus was injured, said a police spokesman at the Mumbai Police headquarters.

As usual, the protestors resorted to stopping trains at several stations. "At around 8.00am, some efforts were made by mobs to stop trains until 11am and though train services were reduced by 25 per cent, they remained unaffected by the bandh," Bhagwat Dahisarkar, Senior Public Relations Officer, told Gulf News.

However, there were no cancellations of long distance trains.

Meanwhile, the strike evoked only partial response in Andhra Pradesh.

In the twin cities Hyderabad and Secunderabad many schools were closed and shops in the busy Sultan Bazar area and some other busy commercial areas remained shut. However, in most places life went on as usual. Only in the Old City shops were closed in pockets.

Though the state transport corporation operated its bus services it avoided certain routes where VHP activists threw stones and tried to deflate the tyres of buses.

In Kerala, the strike threw normal life out of gear.

Though almost all sectors remained paralysed, no incidents of violence, except stray ones like stoning vehicles, were reported from any part of the state, according to police sources.

More than 100 VHP-RSS acti-vists were rounded up on Wednesday night from different parts of the state as a preventive measure even as security was beefed up, especially around prominent temples.

All vehicles, including state public transport buses, remained off the roads. Only two-wheelers were found plying. Markets, shops, offices and educational institutions remained closed. Essential services and the media were exempted from the hartal.

And elsewhere across India, there was a mixed response to the strike call.