Left Parties’ Bihar Bandh on 21 July

The Left parties organized a Bihar bandh on the issues of revoking the Land ordinance, resignations of scam-tainted Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Raman Singh, Vasundhara Raje and Sushma Swaraj, curbing price rise, legal rights for sharecroppers, 5 decimals homestead land for the poor, registration of BPL names and other issues.

During the bandh CPI-ML General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, CPI-ML State Secretary Kunal, PB member Dhirendra Jha, CPI State Secretary Satyanarayan Singh, CPIM State Secretary Awadhesh Kumar, SUCI (C) State committee member Arun Kumar, Mahesh Singh of the RSP and Dinesh Singh Dangi of the Forward Bloc along with thousands of other bandh supporters were arrested in Patna.

Other leaders who participated in the bandh included CPI leaders Ramnaresh Pandey, Rambabu Singh, and several others from CPI; CPI-M State Secretary Board member Arun Mishra, Com. Sadhna from the SUCI(C), and CPI-ML leaders Com. Amar, Meena Tiwari, and Shashi Yadav. The arrests took place when bandh supporters blocked Dak Bangla crossroads, and Ashok Raj Path.

The bandh supporters targeted the train services throughout Bihar. CPI-ML activists stopped the Shramjeevi Express at Rajgir. Train services were affected with the blocking of the Howrah-Gaya Express in Shekhpura, the Vaishali superfast at Muzaffarpur, and other trains.

300 bandh supporters kept the GT Road at Sasaram blocked from 9 am to 12 noon. The NH5, NH 57 and NH 28 in Muzaffarpur, the Laheriya-Samastipur, Darbhanga-Supoul, Darbhanga-Jaynagar, Laheriyaserai-Bahedi roads in Darbhanga, the Siwan-Mashrakh, Siwan-Chhapra, and NH 57 at Siwan were blocked at various places. All the bazaars at Mairwa, Guthni, Aandar, Raghunathpur, Hasanpura and other places remained closed. The Rasoiya Sangh (mid-day meal workers) participated in the bandh at Siwan under its banner. Most of the block HQs and even the banks at Muzaffarpur remained closed. The NH 57 at Darbhanga were blocked at Mufti and the Darbhanga-Jaynagar was blocked at Dome chowk.

About 500 Left activists took out a march at Aurangabad. The bandh was very effective at Obra, Daudnagar and other areas. CPI-ML activists blocked the NH 31 at Beguserai. Traffic was paralysed at NH 110. At Katihar the Shaheed chowk was blocked and a meeting was held under the leadership of former CPI-ML MLA Mahboob Alam, attended by thousands of bandh supporters.

The Patna-Ranchi NH 31 at Biharsharif in Nalanda district, the Patna-Gaya road at Hilsa, and the Patna-Biharsharif road at Chandi were blocked. The NH 28 was blocked at Chatoni chowk in Motihari. 150 people were arrested at Raksol. Thousands of bandh supporters were arrested at Prajatantra chowk at Navada. Most shops remained closed and traffic was affected at Lakhiserai. Left activists blocked the Darog Rai chowk at Chhapra for 3 hours. The Patna-Aurangabad NH 98 at Arwal and the Arwal-Jehanabad road were fully blocked.

The bandh had a widespread effect in the Patna rural areas of Masaurhi, Bihata, Maner, Fatuha, Dhanrua, Paliganj, and Punpun. The bandh was also effective at Buxar, Vaishali, Gaya, Bhabhua, Purnea, Arariya, Champaran, and other regions.

Left parties congratulated the people of Bihar on the success of the bandh. They condemned the attack by BJP activists on bandh supporters in Siwan and the arrests in Patna.

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