The Bharat Bandh against the Agnipath armed forces recruitment scheme elicited a lukewarm response in agitation-epicentre Bihar on Monday with some political parties and their student wings spearheading demonstrations but youths who had erupted in spontaneous protests mostly staying away.

Bihar’s main Opposition party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), was barely present on the streets during the bandh, called by a mix of political and apolitical outfits.

Heavy deployment of police and paramilitary forces, the arrest of over 922 protesters over the past two days and the police releasing the posters of 40 youths accused of violence and seeking their identification were the reasons that seemed to have dissuaded youths from enforcing the bandh. As many as 161 FIRs have been filed.

The Centre had on Sunday said those applying for jobs under Agnipath would have to give an undertaking that they were not involved in the violent agitations against the scheme.

The police and income-tax sleuths have been conducting raids on coaching centres and their owners over allegations of inciting students to resort to violence during the Agnipath protests. Around 20 such centres have been identified so far.

In several districts, the administration used camera-fitted drones to keep a tab on any assembly during the bandh.

“We have deployed the police and paramilitary forces at sensitive places to check any untoward incident. The situation is under control and we are keeping a watch on everything,” said Lakhisarai additional superintendent of police Syed Imran Masood. The district had witnessed widespread vandalism last week.

Private schools in Patna and other places across Bihar remained shut but government schools, offices and business establishments functioned as usual. Traffic was thinner than other days.

Shops and other business establishments had remained shut for a couple of hours in the morning in anticipation of violence but opened when the situation remained peaceful.

Members of the youth wings of various Left and other Opposition parties took out a march in Patna, shouting slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Centre and demanding the rollback of the Agnipath scheme.

Marches were also taken out in other districts, including Bhagalpur, Bhojpur, Araria and Arwal, disrupting traffic on the roads for some time.

The government extended the Internet shutdown to five more districts, taking the number to 20 of Bihar’s 38 districts.

The railways kept its services suspended in view of the Bharat Bandh and cancelled 365 trains starting, terminating or passing through Bihar.

Around 18 others were rescheduled while three were terminated before their destinations.