The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on April 30, 2015. THE Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) congratulates the people of West Bengal for the successful general strike and hartal they observed today in the state. Despite large scale arrests, threats, intimidations and the unleashing of unprecedented violence by the state police and the ruling Trinamool Congress, the hartal evoked a spontaneous response from all walks of people in the state. Over a thousand activists of the Left Front and other opposition parties like the Congress and the BJP were detained by the state police. This included CPI(M) state committee members and district leaders. Over a hundred were injured in the clashes instigated by the ruling Trinamool Congress. At least six of them have been admitted in hospitals with serious injuries. The success of the state wide hartal shows widespread anger at the attacks on democracy in general and the manner in which the ruling Trinamool Congress had rigged and manipulated the recent municipal elections in the state. The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) calls upon the people of West Bengal to intensify their struggles against the authoritarian rule in the state and for the restoration of democracy, civil liberties and the rights of the people.