• To anyone who works in Bengal/is passionate about this state/cares enough to stand up and say “not working is not working”

• To anyone who calls a bandh in Bengal

We have no political agenda. We are mere stakeholders in the working community of West Bengal. What progress can a state make when business is frequently brought to a grinding halt? How do we go forward when every other month we are pulled back by a bandh?

In the recent past, almost every political party has called a bandh. Protest is the signature of a democratic entity; it is the voice of the people. But it is the manner of protest that we are protesting against. For every two steps that we take forward, a bandh, shutting down the state, pulls us four steps back.

Work is our right. And stopping it to protest a wrong is counter-productive. We wish to convey our collective ability to stem the rot. We are proud to live and work in this state.... When people march, nothing can get them to halt. This is just the beginning. We hope it brings an end.

• From The Telegraph readers, led by Kiran Uttam Ghosh, S.K. Birla, Mallika Varma, Bickram Ghosh, Utsav Parekh, Shalini Nopany, Harsh Neotia, Sumedha Saraogi, C.K. Pasari…