Kolkata, August 28: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced a 12-hour Bengal bandh, which commenced at 6 am on Wednesday, August 28. The Bengal Bandh will be carried out from 6 am to 6 pm today. This call for a shutdown follows the violent turn of the 'Nabanna Abhiyaan' rally in Kolkata on Tuesday, August 27.

In response to the bandh call, the West Bengal government has assured that life will remain normal, despite potential disruptions to public transport services and impacts on private offices. The BJP has urged organisations to keep markets closed during the bandh. Scroll down to know what remains open and closed during the 12-hour-long Bengal Bandh on Wednesday, August 28. Nabanna Abhijan March: Police Lathi-Charge, Use Tear Gas, Water Cannons As Protesters Try To Breakthrough Barricades at Howrah Bridge (Watch Videos).

What's Open During Bengal Bandh?

Despite the West Bengal Bandh call, government offices, banks, schools, colleges, and petrol pumps will most likely remain open. Furthermore, public transport including buses and rail services are expected to ply normally. Essential services like medical care, drinking water, and electricity will operate as usual.

What Remains Closed?

The BJP has reportedly called on business organisations to keep markets closed. However, the West Bengal government has said normalcy will be maintained and nothing will be officially closed due to the strike called by the opposition. Nabanna Abhijan March: Amid Chaos on the Streets of Kolkata and Howrah, BJP Leader Suvendu Adhikari Says, ‘We Will Paralyze Bengal if Police Don’t Stop Crackdown on Peaceful Protesters’.

‘Nabanna Abhijan’ Turns Violent

The ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ march to the secretariat, organised to demand Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s resignation, turned violent on Tuesday. The protest was in response to the alleged mishandling of a case involving the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. As demonstrators overturned barricades, police responded with lathi charges, water cannons, and tear gas to disperse the crowd. The ruling Trinamool Congress accused the protestors of inciting violence and suggested that the BJP was behind the unrest.

BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar, who led a protest outside the Kolkata police headquarters in Lalbazar, condemned the police action against students participating in the march to Nabanna. Majumdar said, “The police and Mamata Banerjee have unleashed violence on the student agitation. They have lathi-charged, used tear gas, and water cannons on the democratic, peaceful protest... Our demand is simple: the students who have been arrested by the police should be released.”

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 28, 2024 09:08 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).