New Delhi, July 28: The general strike called by Left parties in Gurgaon today evoked a mixed response.

The bandh, called against police action on Honda workers, was successful in the market area of Old Gurgaon town. All public sector banks and insurance companies remained closed. Many schools and colleges also opted to stay closed.

However, it evoked little response in the industrial area.

CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta pointed out that the bandh was called in a region where the trade union movement is in a nascent stage.

“The administration literally had to put the whole town under siege to make the bandh unsuccessful. Still they could not manage. This also explains what meaning the Haryana government has derived from the concern shown by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and (Congress president) Sonia Gandhi,” said Dasgupta who went to Gurgaon with a six-member team.

Most offices of large transnationals and BPOs in Gurgaon remained open. A spokesperson for Maruti said the carmaker, the largest in the country, and about 100 factories supplying spare parts and components to Maruti and other automakers were open. CocaCola India was also open.

BPO firms bussed in employees in the early hours of the day or even last night so that call centre workers did not miss shifts. Special arrangements were made in-house for food and entertainment.

It was clear by afternoon that by calling 10 extra companies of Haryana Armed Police from adjacent districts, in addition to the 18 companies of local police, the Gurgaon administration wanted to ensure the bandh did not succeed.

So strong was the police presence that when a 14-member team of the JNU Students’ Union, started distributing pamphlets in solidarity with the workers at 6 am near the Kapashera border with Delhi, two truckloads of armed police reached there in no time.

“We were asked sternly to pick up our belongings and buzz off. The police first beat up the leader of the local union and then whisked him away in a jeep. Later we found out that to make the bandh unsuccessful, the police had rounded up all union leaders and even those who roused slight suspicion,” said the students’ union president, Mona Das.

The union has decided to send its own fact-finding team to Gurgaon.

“We are also supporting the nationwide protest day on August 1 and will give a call to boycott classes,” said Das.