"Political mass
demonstration" or "
general strike". Commonly seen in English language news from
India, but rarely found in English dictionaries.
I am ignorant and would be grateful to know if this word is originally Hindi/Urdu, or whether it is a loan from something like German bund, perhaps via English.
rischi says: "'bandh' is Hindi. It's equivalent to curfew - only that it's self imposed. The concept of self-control is built into it. The idea is closer to 'boycott'; if a bandh is called, the expectation is that schools, markets, etc. will voluntarily not operate. Typically non-compliance is not taken very well.