New Delhi: BJP and VHP workers blocked several highways across the country and stopped trains on Thursday to protest against revocation of the land allotment to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board by the Jammu and Kashmir government.
According to reports several trains stopped at Agra and the Delhi-Amritsar highway was blocked. Traffic between the Delhi and the Noida was paralysed as protesters blocked the DND flyover.
The VHP`s international general secretary Praveen Togadia claimed that the strike was completely successful. A BJP leader added that "the impact was more visible" in states ruled by the party.
BJP and VHP workers came out in large numbers on the streets in cities like Indore, Agra, Aligarh and Bhopal. In Ahmedabad, however, the ruling BJP said it would not join the shutdown given the precarious security situation in view of the annual Jagannath rathyatra on Friday.
"About 150 rathyatras are taken out in the state and keeping the security aspect uppermost in mind we have decided not to join the strike," BJP spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Rupani told IANS.
He said the decision was taken after parleys with party president Rajnath Singh.
The state government, he said, had a lot at stake and wanted to ensure that the annual procession in honour of Lord Jagannath passed off peacefully. "No chances can be taken on security and communal peace," Rupani added.
