NEW DELHI, 3 August 2004 — A 12-hour strike called by opposition Trinamool Congress in West Bengal yesterday ended by and large peacefully though it brought life across the state to a standstill.
The strike was called to protest against legislation proposed to settle civil disputes outside courts through conciliatory forums.
The Trinamool says such a law would help the ruling leftists get their cadres into the conciliatory boards and, thereby, control justice dispensation.The strike was successful in most parts of the state as educational institutions, business establishments and markets remained closed.
Traffic on the roads was thin.
The streets in Calcutta wore a deserted look. There were hardly any passengers on government buses that plied in defiance of the strike. Private vehicles kept off the road. Flights remained unaffected, but train services were disrupted as Trinamool supporters blocked tracks at some stations. The city’s underground rail service functioned normally.
Attendance at ports, mines and factories was thin. Government offices functioned normally.Life was affected in almost all the 18 districts of the state.
Police said Trinamool supporters and leftist activists clashed at dozens of places across the state. An unspecified number of people were hurt in these skirmishes.
State police inspector general Chayan Mukherjee told reporters that 1,188 people had been taken into custody.
Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee thanked the people for their “spontaneous support” to the strike.
“I thank the people for their spontaneous support to the strike that has been called to safeguard the people’s interest,” she told a street meeting in southern Calcutta.
Mamata said the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM), which heads the state’s ruling coalition was violating the constitution by trying to ratify the Pre-Litigation Reconciliatory Board Bill, 2004.
The bill was placed in the assembly in the on-going session, but sustained opposition from parties like the Trinamool forced the government to shelve the proposal.
The bill provides for the formation of conciliatory boards at the village level with three members, who would have the right to arbitrate civil disputes.
Political influence in the appointment of members to these boards was not an improbability.
Mamata said the bill was dangerous because a verdict of the board
would be binding on the litigants who, after that, would not have the right to move the courts.
However, political analysts said the real motive behind the strike could be Mamata’s attempt to find out the level of her influence after her party was washed out in the May parliamentary elections.
— Additional input from IANS
