Nationwide bandh disrupts normal life

Normal life was disrupted in many parts of the country as a nationwide bandh was declared by the BJP and Left parties in protest against price hike.

All schools and most business establishments were closed and flights, buses and trains were cancelled as protestors organised agitations against fuel price hike.

Thousands of policemen were deployed in a bid to avert any untoward incident.

On Sunday, NDA working chairperson L K Advani after a meeting of top NDA leaders said, "This may be the first time in the history of India's politics that almost all political parties will participate in the Bharat bandh."

Advani claimed the government had become "insensitive" to price rise and said that though UPA had been espousing the cause of the common man since 2004, prices were on the rise. "Despite so much increase in food prices, the government has increased prices of petroleum products," he said.

In a statement, the BJP-led NDA said that though the Left parties have called for a separate bandh on the same day, the NDA was 'heartened' to find that cutting across ideologies, opposition parties have come together to forcefully register their protest and demand roll back of the recent hikes.

Attacking the government, the statement said: "If the government admits its inability to roll back prices and control inflation, it has no business to cling on to power. This is the message that will go out from tomorrow's Bharat Bandh."

The NDA will not tolerate the government's 'premeditated conspiracy' against the people of India, it added.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) also slammed the government for not reconsidering the steps being taken to deregulate petrol and diesel prices, saying "the deregulation of prices are meant to help the private oil companies and put the people at the mercy of a market-controlled by the multinational oil companies and the domestic corporates."

Last week, the central government ended government curbs on petroleum pricing and hiked the prices of diesel, kerosene and cooking gas.

The price of diesel went up by Rs.2 a litre, kerosene by Rs.3 a litre, petrol by Rs.3.50 a litre, and cooking gas by Rs.35 per cylinder.

The 12-hour shutdown ends at 6 pm.