By IANS,
Guwahati : The nationwide strike Friday called by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to protest spiralling food prices hit life in Assam Friday with shops and businesses remaining closed and traffic going off the roads in many parts.
“The strike is total across the state with people spontaneously supporting the strike call,” said Ramen Deka, the BJP president of the Assam unit.
While most shops and businesses were closed, a rumour that the BJP had called for a ‘Bharat Bandh’ (India shutdown) prompted traffic to go off the roads in several parts of the state, including Assam’s main city Guwahati.
“Even some schools announced a holiday thinking it was a shutdown. Attendance in most government offices was thin,” a government spokesperson said.
The BJP organised a human chain across the state with party supporters wielding placards and shouting slogans to protest the central government’s failure to control prices and check inflation.
“The Congress ruled government both at the centre and in Assam have miserably failed to bring down prices of essentials,” the BJP state president said.