CPM bandh partly successful

KOLKATA: An auto-rickshaw went around Belghoria town on Tuesday evening, with a Trinamool supporter asking shopkeepers to keep their stores open on Wednesday along with the promise that his party men would stay on the roads and thwart any attempt to forcefully shut down business establishments.
It was Trinamool’s bid to frustrate a 10-hour Kamarhati bandh called by CPM on Wednesday to protest against the attack on senior party leaders on Monday night.However, traders on Belghoria-Kamarhati’s arterial roads including BT Road, MB Road, Feeder Road and Bata Road were a worried lot. Owner of a sweet shop on Station Road said, “We don’t want to open our shops during bandhs called by any party to avoid trouble.”
Even as he spoke, a large group of Trinamool supporters came into the shop asking him to keep his shop open on Wednesday, before doing similar rounds of the neighbouring shops.
On Wednesday, too, Trinamool men were seen going on a shop-to shop campaign to resist the CPM bandh while Left supporters were hardly to be seen. The sweet shop owner, however, chose to close his shop. So did many others on Belghoria Station Road, MB Road, Feeder Road and at some of the markets. While schools and colleges remained open, most of the students were missing.
Some of the shops, mainly on Belghoria Station Road and MB Road, were found open later in the day. Traffic wasn’t disrupted and private buses and autos plied normally.
Barring some stray incidents, the 10-hour bandh passed peacefully under tight security arrangements. A large contingent of policemen, including RAF and combat force, led by senior officials, patrolled the town. Police pickets were posted at several crossings like Rathtala More, Sindhustore More, Batar More and Badamtala. Besides police, Trinamool activists kept vigil in pockets.
In one of the stray incidents, a 38-year-old woman DYFI activist, Sonali Das Sharma, was allegedly attacked by a group of Trinamool supporters during a campaign at Dakshineswar in Kamarhati. Sharma was admitted to Kamarhati Sagar Dutta Hospital with a fracture in her left arm.
Local CPM leaders, however, claimed that that bandh was a success and people responded to it positively. “Kamarhati people have always been with us and we had formed the civic board in the last election. Trinamool leaders later occupied the board illegally by luring one of our councillors to defect,” said a CPM councillor.
As expected, Gopal Saha, outgoing Trinamool chairman of Kamarhati Municipality, said, “Nobody responded to the CPM bandh.”