Media reports suggest that the Bharat Bandh ordered by most opposition political parties, cutting across ideological divides, cost the country several thousand crores of rupees in lost incomes and output, and contributed to lost daily wages for millions of poor. This was the direct cost. Also, disruption of public transport and vandalisation of public property heaped suffering on millions. A person in need of medical treatment may have arrived late at a hospital, children missed school, and so on.

><table width='100%' border=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td style='FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 18px; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: #0253B7;'><B>K Subrahmanyam:</B> Bandhs - acts of terror by another name</td></tr><tr><tr><td style='FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 11px; '>Courting arrest and disrupting normal life may have been an election-winning strategy decades ago, but today it smacks of a khap panchayat

K Subrahmanyam: Bandhs - acts of terror by another name

Courting arrest and disrupting normal life may have been an election-winning strategy decades ago, but today it smacks of a khap panchayats approach

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