PTI, BHOPAL/JAIPUR/
LUCKNOW: A nationwide anti-quota bandh call, given largely through social media, turned out to be a damp squib today with virtually no impact on the ground amid heavy security arrangements.
Shops remained closed in some parts of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan for a few hours and internet services were restricted in sensitive areas to check “rumour-mongering”, but normal life remained largely unaffected, officials said.
Reports from Bihar showed attempts to block trains.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was in Bihar today for centenary celebrations of the ‘Champaran Satyagraha’, slammed the opposition for putting hurdles “from the Parliament to the streets” in the government’s development work, in an apparent reference to the April 2 violent protests, for which the BJP has blamed opposition parties.
Today’s bandh call was made as a counter to the nationwide protest by various Dalit groups last week, which had turned violent in several states with at least 11 persons losing their lives, including eight in Madhya Pradesh.
While schools remained open in Bhopal, some of them suspended their bus services. Officials in Madhya Pradesh said that the bandh call was given on social media and no organisation had come forward so far to claim responsibility for it.
