Holding a BJP flag in hand, a child marches through a street in Patna City on Tuesday. Picture by Sachin

The Bihar bandh call given by the BJP turned out to be peaceful barring a few incidents of clashes between workers of the BJP and the JD(U).

Muzaffarpur, the main commercial town of north Bihar, witnessed a battle between the JD(U) and the BJP workers at Islampur and Juran Chhapra localities of the town.

BJP workers, led by Muzaffarpur Town MLA Suresh Sharma, had a scuffle with JD(U) workers. The ruling party supporters menacingly rushed towards the motorcycle brigades of the BJP, when they dared to raise slogans against the chief minister. They then locked in fisticuffs with the JD(U) activists. BJP supporters, on their motorcycles with BJP flags, reached Islampur and faced the heat of JD(U) workers sitting there. The JD(U) activists threatened them of dire consequences if they further aired slogans against the chief minister.

Apart from minor clashes, most of the business establishments of the commercial town remained closed.

In Gaya, a tourist town in south Bihar, the bandh had a mixed response in the urban areas, while it evoked good response in the rural areas of the district. Vehicular movement remained suspended in the rural areas, especially in the Naxalite-affected Sherghati sub-division. The district administration detained around 120 BJP activists, including former urban development minister Prem Kumar as a preventive measure.

The BJP Member of Parliament from Gaya, Hari Manjhi, Prem Kumar, the BJP president of Gaya and others were also detained.

They were, however, released around 1pm. Soon after the release, Manjhi, Prem Kumar and others sat on a dharna in front of Kotwali police station. They raised slogans, favouring Narendra Modi as the next Prime Minister. Business establishments in Gaya remained closed till 12noon. Health services, however, remained unaffected.

Since morning, BJP activists blocked the Gaya-Patna road near Pahaswar and the Gaya-Dobhi road near Bodhgaya Domuhan for two hours. Vehicles stood in a long queue on the Grand Trunk (GT) Road. Bodhgaya MLA Shyamdev Paswan with party activists got the Magadh University, Bodhgaya headquarters, and the Bodhgaya block office closed. He also blocked the Gaya-Dobhi road near Domuhan. Vehicular movement to Gaya from the Maoist-hit Dumaria, Raniganj, Imamganj, Kothi, Gurua and other places of Sherghati sub-division were completely stalled. The bandh evoked good response in Dumaria and Imamganj blocks, while it had partial response in Sherghati.

In Darbhanga, most shops remained closed and the main road wore a deserted look.

In Purnea, incessant rainfall between 9.30am and 11.30am kept political activists away from any kind of protests. However, they were active earlier at different points of the town and shopkeepers kept their shutters down.

The bandh drew a good response in Saran, Siwan and Gopalganj. Most shops remained closed and no untoward incident was reported from any area. At Chhapra, former labour resources minister Janardan Singh Sigriwal, MLA Vinay Singh, along with a dozen workers courted arrest. BJP workers expressed anguish against chief minister Nitish Kumar’s way of parting with the BJP by burning tyres and effigy of the CM at different chowks in Chhapra.

Around 3,227 persons were arrested during the bandh with maximum number of arrests (784) from Patna, S.K. Bharadwaj, additional director-general (law and order) said.