Lucknow, November 24
Near-total bandh was observed in Uttar Pradesh today following a call given by the VHP and the BJP to protest against yesterday's serial blasts in the state.
The bandh was near-total in Varanasi, Basti, Sant Kabirnagar, Jaunpur, Firozabad, Kanpur and Faizabad with shops and business establishments remaining closed.
The VHP activists burnt an “effigy” of terrorism and raised slogans against the government for its alleged slackness in maintaining the law and order.
In Mirzapur, shopkeepers clashed with VHP workers while they were trying to enforce the bandh. Both sides indulged in stone pelting resulting in minor injuries to eight people, police said, adding FIRs have been lodged by both sides.
In Lucknow, BJP workers marched through the town requesting the shopkeepers to down their shutters. They claimed that shopkeepers willingly supported their bandh call, expressing concern over the security lapses.
Traffic, however, plied normally as most of the schools, colleges and government offices remained closed on account of Guru Purnima.
In Faizabad, thousands of pilgrims took a holy dip in river Saryu on the occasion of ‘Kartik Mela Snan’ though there were lesser crowds.
A report from Jalaun said Bhartiya Kisan Union workers blocked the traffic at some places.
The Samajwadi Party workers too protested the serial blasts by staging a dharna in Lucknow and squatting on the railway tracks near Prayag in Allahabad but were later dispersed. A home department spokesman said the bandh passed off peacefully.
— PTI
