 bandh, originally a hindi word meaning "closed", is a form of protest used by political activists in south asian countries such as india and nepal. during a bandh, a political party or a community declares a general strike. a bharat bandh is a call for a bandh across india, and a bandh can also be called for an individual state or municipality. often, the community or political party declaring a bandh expects the general public to stay in at home and not report to work. most affected are shopkeepers who are expected to keep their shops closed, as well as public transport operators of buses and cabs who are expected to stay off the road and not carry passengers. there have been instances when large metro cities have been brought to a standstill. a bandh is a powerful means of civil disobedience. because of the huge impact of a bandh on the local community, it is a much-feared tool of protest. burglary, forced closures, arson attacks, stoning, and clashes between the bandh organizers and the police are common during the period of closure. the state with the highest incidence of bandhs in india is west bengalwb takes the cake when it comes to bandhs; economic times, 18 dec, 2006, 2230 hrs ist, tnn where the average number of bandhs per year is 40-50 (ranging in duration from a couple of hours to a maximum of two days per bandh). ==ban== the supreme court of india banned bandhs in 1998,pay damages first, court tells parties; the hindu, saturday, september 17, 2005 but political parties still organize them. in 2004, the supreme court of india fined two political parties, bharatiya janata party (bjp) and shiv sena, for organizing a bandh in mumbai as a protest against bomb blasts in the city. ==notable bandhs== the national democratic alliance (nda) and 13 non-upa parties called for a nationwide bandh on july 5, 2010, to protest a fuel price hike. this bandh prevented indians from carrying out day-to-day tasks, especially in states that were ruled by the nda and t
Civil_disobedience Political_terminology_in_India Protests_in_India Protests_in_Nepal Strikes_(protest)