12-hour bandh evokes mixed response: BJP workers clash with cops in N Bengal

On Monday, the body of 55-year-old Roy was found hanging from the ceiling of a verandah outside a shuttered shop near his home in Bindal village. Roy had won the 2016 state Assembly polls from Hemtabad on a CPM ticket, but joined the BJP soon after the Lok Sabha elections in 2019.

According to the state police, a suicide note was found from his shirt pocket in which he blamed two people for his death. However, the MLA’s family members have claimed that he was murdered and demanded a CBI inquiry. The state government, however, has ordered a CID probe.

In a bid to enforce the bandh, BJP workers clashed with the police in Cooch Behar town, where they tried to prevent buses from leaving a North Bengal State Transport Corporation depot. Window panes of a couple of buses, including one that operates on the Cooch Behar-Mathabhanga route, were damaged by bandh supporters. Later, the police removed the agitators from the area, allowing bus services to resume.

In Siliguri, government bus services were almost normal, although there were fewer private buses. Shops and markets in some places were closed. However, some areas in the city were closed after they were declared containment zones because of rising Covid-19 cases.

The bandh also evoked a mixed response in Malda and Uttar Dinajpur districts. Several bandh supporters were seen picketing on roads and raising slogans demanding a CBI investigation into the MLA’s death.

In Uttar Dinajpur, markets were closed while private vehicles were off the roads. Darjeeling district remained unaffected by the bandh.

In Kolkata, BJP leaders and workers staged a protest in front of Gandhi’s statue at Mayo Road.

State BJP president Dilip Ghosh said, “Tomorrow we will protest in front of all police stations in Bengal. This will be a token protest against the political violence on BJP workers.”

TMC leader and state minister Firhad Hakim said, “The bandh was not successful. BJP workers tried to enforce the bandh as there was no response from people.”