Patna:
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan were among 5,200 activists of the two parties who courted arrest while enforcing a bandh in Bihar on Saturday against hike in fuel prices that affected normal life in the state and disrupted road and rail services.
Lalu, who arrived from New Delhi by a service flight in the afternoon, led a party procession which shouted slogans against the Centre and the state government and burned effigies of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Paswan claimed that the bandh was a grand success.
"The massive response to our bandh call suggests dissatisfaction of the people over the Central and state government's failure to check prices," he said.
Paswan urged the Centre to roll back the increased prices of petrol, cooking gas, kerosene and diesel.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, however, said: "There was no impact of the bandh and people rejected it. It is a big flop. Had the two parties been serious about the price spiral, they would have joined the Bharat bandh called by Opposition parties on July 5."
RJD and LJP activists took out processions on busy Bailey Road and Ashok Raj Path in the state capital and blocked the roads for several hours, official sources said.
Most shops and business establishments remained closed though banks and other financial institutions were open.
Most offices of Central and state governments wore a deserted look because of poor attendance.
Bandh supporters burnt tyres and blocked railway tracks and national and state highways at various places in the state.
Road and rail traffic have been hit, with protesters blocking roads and tracks in different parts of the state. All shops and schools are shut today.
"There is no business at all, it is a complete loss. We are sitting without work and we have to earn on a daily basis to feed our families. If this situation lasts for long, I don't know how we will survive," said one of the local daily wage earners.
Protesters were shouting Sonia Gandhi
hai hai at Hazipur railway station standing together in a group. They also blocked the railway track by burning something on the track.
LJP president Ramvilas Paswan has justified the state-wide bandh saying, "Each time there is a rise in prices of petroleum products, which has a cascading effect on prices of everything, we will protest it."
Politicians may justify today's Bihar bandh as the only way to get the voice of the common man to the UPA government in Delhi, but it was havoc played out on the streets of Patna today, as RJD and LJP workers took to the streets and assaulted anyone who dared to defy their bandh call. All of this happened in the presence of the Bihar Police, deputed to keep things peaceful.
On Monday, it was the NDA that had enforced a similar kind of bandh, causing a loss of more than Rs 50 crore across the state. (
Read: Bharat bandh: BJP, allies call nationwide strike against price hike)
The bandh evoked good response in Aurangabad, Gaya, Ara, Masaurhi, Nawada, Barh, Jehanabad, Gopalganj, Chapra, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga and Saharsa.
Long queues of trucks and other vehicles were seen waiting for clearance of roads on National Highway at Jarua, Ara, Aurangabad, Muzaffarpur and Sasaram as the protesters blocked the roads.
Shops and major business establishments remained closed. Most of the offices of the central and state governments wore a deserted look because of poor attendance, sources said.
According to PTI, many trains are running several hours behind their schedule. These are New Delhi-Rajendra Nagar Terminal Rajdhani Express, Samoorna Kranti Express, Ganga-Domadar from Dhanbad to Patna, Hatia-Patna Express, Janseva Express from Saharsa to New Delhi and several passengers trains and Intercity Express.
(
With inputs from PTI)