Due to the recent hike in petrol prices in India, members of the opposition, the right-wing BJP party and the Left, called for a Bharat Bandh - a form of protest used by political activists - whereby everything is declared closed.

The hike in prices was described as the steepest ever at Rs. 6.28 plus local taxes. Many people in India's main metros and other cities have chosen to stay home.

Several buses in Mumbai were stoned, whilst buses were set on fire in Bangalore (as shown by the picture tweeted by @avinenKB) whilst trains have been stopped in Allahabad, Odisha and Jharkhand.

Local media reported that in the capital, BJP workers blocked a road that connects Ghaziabad to Delhi, causing inconvenience to those en route to their offices, with the temperature at 42 degrees.

Some politicians have been arrested or detained for trying to enforce the bandh. The BJP president Nitin Gadkari said the nation-wide shutdown against last week's hike in petrol prices, was the "common man's reaction to the wrong economic policies and corrupt governance of the [ruling] Congress Party."

Common Indian affected:

- Over 6,000 shopkeepers in Shimla kept their shops closed.
- Mumbai dabbawalas on strike too. Dabbawalas provide meals to hundreds of thousands of office workers everyday
- Bandh supporters set on fire three buses and stoned about a dozen others forcing authorities to withdraw bus services across the state.
- In Goa tourist taxis, private buses and even autorickshaws were off roads fearing attack by protesters, leaving hundreds of tourists stranded
- Nearly 55,000 autos and 15,000 taxis are expected to stay off the road in Delhi