The day-long bandh called by banned rebel outfit CPI (Maoist) across four states including Jharkhand passed off peacefully without any untoward incident.
The outfit had called the bandh in four states Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh (North) and Uttar Pradesh in protest of the Lakhimpur Kheri incident in Uttar Pradesh.
In the wake of the bandh Jharkhand Police had made additional deployment in the Maoist affected areas of Khunti, Gumla, Latehar, Lohardaga, Palamu, Gahrwa and many other places. No naxal activities were reported from Budha Pahad range in Latehar, Parashnath Hills (Giridih) and tri-junctions of Khunti-Saraikela-Chaibasa which is a stronghold of the ultra left. IG (Operation) Amol Homkar was personally supervising surveillance, deployment and the area domination exercise. Similarly the Railway Protection Force was also on high alert.
Central security agencies also alerted Jharkhand police about presence of armed squad led by Maoists central committee member Anal and the group’s regional committee member Amit Yadav in the tri-junction area.
There was no impact on the bandh as all shops, transport and other activities continued in the normal way. The long range patrolling was also conducted by the security forces. However, security forces will stay vigilant throughout the night.
In a violent incident on October 3, eight people died in Lakhimpur Kheri including four farmers and four BJP workers during farmers’ protest.
While the political blame game is still going on, the Bihar-Jharkhand-North Chhatisgarh and Uttar Pradesh Simant Regional Committee of CPI (Maoist) announced its support to farmers who are agitating against three farming laws brought by the central government. The spokesperson of the regional committee Manas announced the bandh.
The CPI (Maoist) criticized the Lakhimpur Kheri incident and accused the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for committing murder of farmers. The outfit alleged the BJP government is only interested in empowering corporate
houses.
