The nationwide bandh called by BJP and VHP against the revocation of Amarnath land transfer turned violent in Indore on Thursday, leaving three persons killed while highways were blocked and trains stopped disrupting normal life in parts of the country.

Normal life was hit in parts of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Assam and Jharkand where incidents of stone-pelting and road blockade were reported prompting police to resort to lathicharge.

The bandh had little or no response in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Tripura.

In Delhi, no untoward incident was reported but several arterial roads were blocked. Shops and business establishments remained closed in a few areas.

GUJARAT: With the state BJP opting out, the bandh got a lukewarm response in the state. Most of the business establishments, small shops and offices functioned as usual in Ahmedabad while some malls and shopping centres remained closed.

MAHARASHTRA: Incidents of stone-pelting and road blockades were reported in some parts of Maharashtra, including Mumbai and Thane. Five BEST buses were damaged in Mumbai’s suburban Kandivili areas in stone-throwing by protestors, police said. VHP supporters halted traffic on some key roads in Vakola, Malad and Borivilli areas in north-west Mumbai and in the northeastern suburb of Ghatkopar, causing hardship to officegoers, police said, adding the saffron activists were dispersed and vehicular movement restored.

Reports of stone pelting on state-owned buses came in from Maharashtra’s Thane region where BJP and VHP workers forced shop-owners to down shutters.

PUNJAB: Scores of BJP activists stopped the Howrah-Amritsar express in Ludhiana and stopped road traffic and forced closure of shops in certain parts of the state. Delhi-Bhopal Shatabdi express was stopped by BJP and VHP workers for about 30 minutes in the cantonment station in Agra where protestors got some markets shut and a section of lawyers owing allegiance to the saffron outfits boycotted courts.

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