CPI(M) chairman Biman Bose on Monday admitted that the 12-hour bandh called by the Left parties to protest against the misery caused by demonetisation had failed to create any major impact.
“In the future, we will have to give a serious thought before calling bandh” Bose said, admitting that “the decision was hasty.”
However, in contradiction to the statement made by the party chairman, CPI(M) state secretary Surya Kanta Misra said that the bandh alled by the Left Front was “successful as many people joined the rally it organised from Moulali to Mallick bazaar.”
Left Front leaders, including Bose, former IT minister Debesh Das and Ashok Bhattacharya took part in the rally.
Bose said that due to lack of homework on the part of the Centre, the common people are facing great trouble.
The worst hit are the working class, small traders and shop keepers, he said. He also blamed the Centre for its failure to bring back black money lying in the banks of foreign countries.
In spite of the Left Front’s call to shun all commercial activities for 12 hours, offices and institutions in the state were functional as usual.
The state government had announced that a day’s salary would be deducted for state government employees who fail to turn up for work on Monday and Tuesday.
Railway stations and airports in the state functioned normally. Business establishments and educational institutions were open, along with shops and markets.
The loading and unloading of goods at Kolkata and Haldia ports functioned as usual.
This is the only bandh called by the Left Front in the past three decades, which turned out to be a dud.
During the Left Front regime, offices used to remain closed and buses were withdrawn so that even people willing to go to work would be forced to remain indoors.
After coming to power in 2011, Banerjee declared that her party was against bandh and steps would be taken to foil the strike.
On September 2, an all-India industrial strike called by the Left unions had some impact in the industrial belt in North 24 Parganas and East Midnapore. The bandh on Monday, however, had very few takers. Industrial units in Barrackpore and its neighbourhood functioned normally.
Overall, in all state government offices, 96 per cent attendance was recorded. In Nabanna, the attendance was 94 per cent.