National Anti-Gandhi Strike Slows India; 11 Die

Protesters blocked railroad tracks and battled police during nationwide demonstrations Wednesday against Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Officials said 11 people were killed and more than 100,000 arrested.

The nationwide strike shut down commerce and transportation in six states controlled by opposition parties but had less effect in the 19 states governed by Gandhi’s party, Congress-I, the Press Trust of India news agency said.

Several clashes broke out between government supporters and opposition demonstrators, and at least four people died when a bomb was thrown at a bus, police said. Police used batons and tear gas to break up crowds nationwide, news reports said.

At least 80 people were injured and 103,450 were arrested nationwide, police said.

Opposition parties had called the strikes to focus attention on alleged government corruption. Gandhi must call new parliamentary elections later this year, and the strike has been perceived as being the start of the opposition’s campaign.

The strike closed shops, businesses and schools and stopped rail and transport services in the six opposition-governed states. In other regions, it evoked only a limited response, although there was a drop in business activity and attendance at schools and offices.

The news agency said 11 people were killed in clashes involving police and pro- and anti-government factions. It said seven deaths were reported from the northeastern state of Tripura in fighting between members of Congress-I and the Marxist Communist Party.

Four people were killed in the states of Kerala and West Bengal, both governed by the Marxist Communist Party, it said.

V. P. Singh, the leader of an opposition coalition trying to unite political groups against Gandhi, said the strike was a success.

“We are very confident of the future,” he said at a news conference.

Singh’s National Front had called the strike and was supported by the Marxist Communist Party, the Communist Party of India and the right-wing Indian People’s Party.

Home Minister Buta Singh said the strike failed and that “the forces that inspired it have been decisively defeated.”

The strike underscored the opposition’s campaign against alleged corruption in the government. Last month, 106 opposition members in Parliament resigned, saying a government audit into a controversial arms deal proved kickbacks were paid to senior officials and Gandhi’s party. The government denies it.