Why bandh is a working day for both sides

A Calcutta police van on Amherst Street with a loudhailer over which cops urged
people to 'lead a normal life like other days' on Thursday. This is the first time
Calcutta police are making such a public appeal on the eve of a shutdown
called by political parties

TT, Calcutta, April 29: Tomorrow's strike call has thrown up challenges for all stakeholders.

While the Left and BJP strikes are for 12 hours and 10 hours, respectively, the shutdown called by six trade unions is for 24 hours. While the Left and the BJP are protesting alleged malpractices in the civic elections, the trade unions are agitating against a central transportation bill besides "rigging".

This is the third major shutdown the Mamata Banerjee government will have to tackle since assuming charge in 2011.

The Telegraph tries to assess the challenges ahead of each of the stakeholders and the steps each has taken to overcome them.

State government

The biggest challenge for the government is to stop disruptions in day-to-day activities, including ensuring government offices run normally.

The government is facing two hurdles - grievances of employees over dearness allowance (DA) dues and the absence of Madan Mitra, the transport minister who is in judicial custody in connection with a Saradha case.

"If the state government manages to keep attendance in government offices normal, which is around 85 per cent, it can claim the strike has been foiled. Attendance of government employees is the parameter based on which the success or failure of a strike is gauged," a senior Nabanna official said.

The finance secretary today issued a notice saying no leave would be granted tomorrow and attendance was a must. A day's salary would be deducted if an employee failed to turn up without a valid reason.

This ploy had worked during a strike called by the Left trade unions on February 28, 2012. The government had docked a day's salaries of nearly 30,000 employees, including teachers and municipal staff.

"The move shook the infamous work culture of Bengal. This was evident when the attendance in government offices reached 92 per cent during a Left strike in February 2013. Less than 10,000 of the six lakh-odd employees remained absent on that day. The government did not take any step against the absentees as the panchayat polls were round the corner and the employees were supposed to play a crucial role in it," an official said.

The government could face problems this time as the DA dues have reached 48 per cent and employees are unhappy about it.

"Initially, we followed every instruction of the government as we had hoped that it would look after us. But it is clear that we won't get our DA dues. I won't come tomorrow as I don't care whether I have to forego a day's salary," said an employee of the land department at Nabanna.

The government's decision of not initiating action against the absentees in 2013 might hobble efforts to frustrate the strike.

"The government cannot take two actions in similar cases. I won't come tomorrow and if my salary is deducted, I will move court," said an employee of the home department.

That transport minister Mitra would not be around tomorrow is another cause for concern of the government.

"He used to be the one-man show during strikes. He used to keep state-run buses running. Besides, he had good connections with private bus and taxi operators," a minister said.

During the last two shutdowns, there had been enough taxis and private buses on the roads as Mitra had held several meetings with the operators and assured them of all help.

In the absence of Mitra, the chief minister has taken it upon herself to send this message.

"Don't be afraid of bandh supporters. If any car is attacked tomorrow or any shop ransacked, the Bengal government will pay you compensation. But please do not support the bandh and do not allow it to become successful," Mamata said at a rally in Nadia's Nabadwip today.

Trinamul Congress

The challenge before Trinamul is to prove that the landslide victory in the civic polls was the people's mandate.

"If the bandh is successful tomorrow, it would send the signal that people believe the allegations against us. We have to foil the bandh anyhow," another minister said.

Trinamul today took to the streets against the strike.

"The bandh call is not linked to the transport issue. The BJP and the CPM are trying to score points by riding on the trade union strike. After the civic poll results, they should have stayed indoors," said Subrata Mukherjee, the panchayat minister and head of the Trinamul trade union's Bengal unit.

In several parts of Calcutta, Trinamul workers went around in autorickshaws, campaigning against the bandh.

Left Front

If the strike is a success, the Left would be able to hold it up as an example of the people's "disapproval" of Trinamul's "strongarm" tactics during the elections.

"There lies our challenge. People's support tomorrow will automatically mean that they did not like Trinamul's threats during the elections and the large-scale rigging," a CPM leader said.

The Left will have to take care that the strike is not forced on people as the agenda is alleged violence by Trinamul.

"We will not apply any force. Let the strike be spontaneous as vast sections of people have realised what the ruling party did during the civic polls," said Surjya Kanta Mishra, the CPM state secretary.

The leadership has asked cadres to hit the streets tomorrow, sensing that this could be the best way to stay relevant in Bengal politics.

"Yes, we do have a challenge to meet - that is to make tomorrow's bandh a success. The time has come for the Left to take on Trinamul by hitting the streets and building up mass resistance. This is the strongest way to revive the Left's fortunes," CPM state secretariat member Rabin Deb said.

The CPM-backed umbrella organisation of government employees, the Coordination Committee, has to prove that it still has a presence. The committee is planning to tap into the employees' grievances to ensure that attendance is low.

"We won't attend office tomorrow, come what may. I am sure large number of employees will register their protest tomorrow by staying away from office," said Manoj Guha, the secretary of the Coordination Committee.

BJP

This is the first strike the party has called in Bengal and the newly set up party employees' union, the Sarkari Karmachari Parishad, has a point to prove.

The union claims that it has nearly 2,500 active members. If it can ensure that most members skip office tomorrow, it can claim to have established its presence among state government employees.

"We will forgo a day's salary and stay away from office. We will prove our presence tomorrow," said Sanket Chakraborty, a leader of the organisation.

Congress

Although the Congress is not officially part of the strike, the party's challenge is to be present on the streets and embarrass the state government at a time it has proved in the civic polls that it is still a force to reckon with.

Former Raiganj MP Deepa Das Munshi today asked Congress workers to make the bandh a success. "The Intuc was the first to call the transport strike and the Left unions joined later. It is the responsibility of all Congress workers to work in favour of the bandh," Deepa said.

Senior Congress leaders such as Pradip Bhattacharya and Abdul Mannan were in favour of joining the strike but state unit president Adhir Chowdhury was against it.

"The Intuc has called the transport strike and they will do what they have to. We are not opposed to the issue but we will not participate in the strike," Chowdhury said this evening.

Footnote: Calcutta High Court today observed that since the Supreme Court and other high courts had already declared bandhs and strikes as "unconstitutional", there was no need to pass a fresh order on the issue.