Raipur, January 18: The Communist Party of India (Maoist) has called for a national-wide “Bharat Bandh” between February 7 and February 11, and three days of protest from February 4 to 6 to protest against “price rise, scams and state terror”, according to an unsigned statement sent in the name of Abhay, spokesperson for the Central Committee of the party.
The banned guerilla organisation has a presence in the states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal and parts of Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. In 2010, armed Maoist cadres killed over 100 policemen and paramilitary troopers in Chhattisgarh alone.
Prior experience suggests that bandh shall probably be enforced in the rural areas and state-boundaries where Maoist militias are active, urban centres are likely to remain unaffected by the call.
—Agencies