Whenever and wherever the ruling JD(U)-BJP alliance supporters used force to enforce bandh in the city on Thursday, police looked the other way. The strike supporters had a field day. People suffered.

Be it near the state secretariat or the Rajabazaar, rowdies ruled the streets. With no help coming from the police, people had to surrender to their illegitimate demands.

They don’t see

Locale: Secretariat

Time: 7.25am

A group of stick-wielding BJP supporters took control of the street. Shouting anti-Centre slogans, they heckled motorists. They also smashed windscreens of cars and roughed up people.

A police patrol car surfaced. An officer came out. But he did not utter a word. He called up someone, perhaps his senior officer, asking him what to do. Around 20 minutes later, the patrol vehicle took a U-turn and left. The ruckus continued.

They don’t act

Locale: Rajabazaar

Time: 9am

Vandalism in the presence of the police “greeted” people. Cops were mute spectators.

Sanjay Kumar Singh, a businessman living in the Rajabazaar area, said: “The bandh supporters stopped me when I went out on my bike to buy vegetables. The headlight of my bike was shattered. I had to remain silent. Else, they would have beaten me up. Three policemen were standing at one corner, but they pretended as if nothing had happened.”

They find no reason

Locale: Hartali Mor

Time: 8am to 10.30am

Bandh supporters turned violent every now and then and roughed up bikers. Windscreens of several cars were shattered. “The crowd is too much. And the bandh was announced earlier. Why to get out and face problems?” a constable asked.

They don’t dare

Locale: Dakbungalow Mor

Time: 7am to 1pm

Right from the morning, the bandh supporters were in action. Big and small groups ran amuck, creating ugly scenes. Several policemen were patrolling the area. But none dared to touch them.

Around 12noon, two police buses arrived and the dawn-to-dusk bandh supporters boarded them shouting slogans.

They don’t care

A senior police officer said violence is expected in every bandh. “It happens, isn’t it? Setting tyres afire and damaging vehicles are normal during the bandh,” he said.

“Ab JD(U) aur BJP ka bandh hai toh zyada kya kare? Buses hai, khud arrest ho jayenge thodi der me. [What more can we do when it a strike of the JD(U) and BJP? We have arranged for buses and the bandh supporters will court arrest soon].