Calcutta, Aug. 26: Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today took the boldest stride yet by a politician to make Bengal bandh-free but disruption addicts within and without his party appeared in no mood to kick the habit in a hurry.

“Personally if you ask me, I think it (strike) is not helping us, our country. But unfortunately, as I belong to one party and (when) they call a strike, I keep mum. But I have finally decided that next time, I will open my mouth,” the chief minister told an Assocham meeting here today.

Asked if there was a distinction between “state-sponsored” bandhs and those called by the Opposition, he said: “No difference.”

If Bhattacharjee was willing to forego a tool chiselled to perfection by the CPM and borrowed with great gusto by the Trinamul Congress, he was also ready to give up another patent. The chief minister branded gherao — a word gifted to the political lexicon by the Left — “illegal and immoral”.

“We are also trying our best to change the mindset of union leaders and workers. I think things have changed. I assure you, gherao will never return to our state. I will not allow that. I think it is highly illegal and immoral,” he said.

Bhattacharjee has more or less won the battle against gherao but bandh is a harder nut to crack. Often, the challenge comes from within the CPM — as proved by last week’s Citu-sponsored shutdown, which crippled even sectors such as information technology that have been promised immunity.

However, if Bhattacharjee does speak up next time and chooses to back it up with the action he is supposed to take as chief minister, bandhs can be tackled.

The business barons greeted the chief minister’s promise with applause but not Citu, one of the principal perpetrators of bandhs, which seized on the “personal” component.

“Whatever he said was his personal opinion, which is different from the party’s position. Citu considers bandhs the working class’s ultimate weapon. We have achieved the right (to strike) through a long struggle,” Kali Ghosh, the state secretary of the CPM’s labour arm, said.

Ghosh seemed to suggest that the chief minister had chosen the wrong forum even if the views expressed were “personal”. “We don’t know why he said what he did and under what circumstances. But it is the standard practice in our party to air personal views in proper forums of the party and go by its collective decision.”

The Citu leader held up Jyoti Basu as an “example”, saying the patriarch once “had admitted his mistake after making comments about party matters in public”. He warned that the chief minister “may face opposition if he spoke (in the CPM) against the right to bandh on just causes”.

No prizes for guessing which bandh birds are flocking together. Trinamul Congress MP and general secretary Mukul Roy said: “Buddhababu got elected on a CPM ticket and became chief minister. How could he say he does not support bandhs but is forced to join when his party calls them?”

Roy did not forget to refer to Mamata Banerjee’s earlier remarks that bandh was the “last weapon of protest when there is no response from the government on an issue”.

Other Citu leaders pointed out that Bhattacharjee’s colleague in the CPM politburo, Sitaram Yechury, had defended the Left-sponsored general strike on August 20.