Shutdown hits normal life in Gujarat

GANDHINAGAR - Businesses ground to a halt and normal life was affected in Gujrat Monday during a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called shutdown against the fuel price hike.

The shutdown was near total in Ahmedabad with shops, trade and industrial establishments downing their shutters. Movement of city buses was also affected and autorickshaws remained off the roads. Though banks functioned, fuel stations were closed.

Almost all schools and colleges were shut as the ruling BJP in Gujarat went all out to ensure the success of the strike. Even roadside tea stalls were shut.

State BJP spokesperson Parag Sheth said that the shutdown had been total in Gujarat.

“We did not need to goad people to join in. It was an exceptional show of solidarity which should be an eye-opener to the (Congress-led) UPA government,” he said.

The Gujarat High Court advocates association in a resolution passed Monday also announced their support to the shutdown call.

“Our members did not take part in the day’s court proceedings,” association president Yatin oza said.

Clashes were reported in Chowk bazaar and Katargam areas of Surat as BJP workers sought to force shops to down their shutters.

In Rajkot, BJP workers stormed into the stock exchange, damaging furniture in a bid to shut the place.

The Gujarat University had announced the postponement of exams slated for July 5.

Gujarat Congress president Siddarrth Patel charged the BJP with instilling fear to force people to join the daylong stir and causing colossal loss of business.

“When the BJP-led government was in power, it had increased the fuel prices 22 times. Again it was during their rule at the centre in 2002 that the bill for freeing petroleum product prices from government control was moved. The UPA government actually implemented it eight years later,” he said.