NEW DEHLI: More than 2100 people including prominent leaders of six political parties were arrested as the countrywide general strike called by the National Front and its allies to protest the dismissal of Tamil Nadu government evoked mixed response in different parts of India.
The Tamil Nadu government which was headed by Karunanidhi was dismissed last week bringing the south Indian state under president’s rule.
A bus was burnt and stray incidents of violence were reported in the worst-hit Tamil Nadu where train services were disrupted and shops and business establishments remained.
The strike paralysed normal life also in West Bengal Kerala Pondicherry Bihar and Karnataka while it evoked poor response in Andhra Pradesh and none in Gujarat and Maharashtra reports said.
Train services the countries over except in the central western railways were affected the worst being on the southern railway and the eastern railway officials said.
In Madras more than 1000 DMK party men including two members of the legislative assembly were held when protesters carrying dummies depicting bodies of democracy took out mock funeral processions to burial grounds a DMK spokesman said.
In New Delhi over 1000 workers and supporters courted arrest after a protest meeting addressed by former union ministers P Upendra Ram Vilas Paswan Sharad Yadav Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and K P Unnikrishnan.
About 100 Janata Dal and DMK leaders and party workers including Ramakrishna Hegde J H Patel D B Chandre Gowda opposition leader in the Karnataka assembly and M C Nanaiah were arrested in Bangalore.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 15, 1991
