The call for Bharat bandh by the Congress and the Left parties over fuel price rise had little impact in the Millennium City on Monday with the business and the transport services remaining unaffected.
Though local Congress workers marched through the busy Sadar Bazar, catering mostly to the lower middle-class, and seeking support of the traders’ community to keep their shops shut, the market remained by-and-large open.
One of the reasons for the lack of support to the bandh was because the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had held a State-wide “bandh” on September 8 on fuel prices, said the shopkeepers.
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The had also held the band for Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal issue.
Shri Bhagwan Gupta, a garment shop owner in Sadar Bazar, said the traders could not afford to close their shops every second day.
“The INLD and the BSP had held a State-wide bandh on September 8, forcing us to shut our shops. It would have been better if the political parties decided for the same day for bandh,” said Mr. Gupta.
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Amit Jindal, general-secretary, Gurugram Jewellers Association, said the issues for which the Congress had called Bharat bandh existed during its rule also.
“There is no difference between the Congress and the BJP for the common man. Instead of fooling the common man with frequent calls for bandhs, the political class should work out some solutions,” said Mr. Jindal.
Later, a handful of workers of Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) gathered at Mahaveer Chowk around noon and raised slogans against fuel price hike and its inclusion in the “Goods and Services Tax”.
CPI (M), Gurugram zone secretary, Major S.L. Prajapati, said the party workers were busy preparing for a proposed “gherao” of Haryana Vidhan Sabha and therefore the presence was thin for the protest.
Gurugram Police spokesperson Subhash Boken said that no untoward incident was reported.
The police personnel were drawn from the police stations and the police lines to be deployed at markets, bus stands and metro stations in adequate numbers, said Mr. Boken.