It dawned normally – slowly Sun came out on what was to be
another scorching hot day; the Sunset would also be as normal as ever.. Chennai swelters in heat, no rain – some powercut
and people were anxious on the impact of the call by the opposition – their
concern was whether there would be any impact on public transportations,
whether auto rickshaws will ply and continue to fleece them….. things looked as
normal as ever as one travelled to Office this morning.
If you wonder, or did not know –
today is ‘Bharat Bandh’ – the unprecedented hike in petrol prices has
helped the Left and the right to make common cause tomorrow for a nationwide
protest, described by BJP and its allies as Bharat Bandh and by Left as all India
Bandh is a Hindi word meaning 'closed', is a form of protest used
by political activists. When Bandh is
declared the protagonists want the life to come to a standstill and for doing
that transportation would have to be stopped and shops and establishments
closed. A couple of decades, most were
State run and anything against the State would paralyse the normal life. It was extremely powerful means of civil
disobedience and protest against the actions of the Govt. One of the more famous Bharat Bandh was
organized in Aug 1989, when Rajiv Gandhi was in power. As the opposition resorted to stoppage of
public transportation and threatened the shops to close [cinema theatres also
would remain closed – as also hotels], the Govt did all that was in its power
to break the bandh. Curiously, the PSU
employees were asked to attend Office and to facilitate their attendance they
were allowed to report to their nearest branch – it was mockery of work – an
employee working in a Branch going to another Branch was only symbolic
attendance – no functional work took place that day.
Just as the Opposition claimed that the Bharat Bandh was a
success, the Govt. on its part claimed that it had dissipated into a non event
as people attended Offices !!
This bandh [31st May 2012] is the coming
together of BJP, Left and other non-Congress parties. Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party, which
is supporting the UPA goverment from outside, has also given the bandh call
tomorrow so has BJD in Odisha. In Tamilnadu, the situation is always bizarre
and is unlikely to have any major effect.
AIADMK has staged protests and so did DMK on its own in which dramatic
statements and veiled threats were
made to pull out of the UPA.
Political parties try to score some brownie points and now
a days bandhs do not get any visual results.
Parties would announce that its leaders will take part in rallies in
public meetings – bigger leaders would turn up cautiously weighing the mood of
the public, which these days is lukewarm response at best. The rewards are illusory for the Organisers
as also those whom they expect would join these form of protests. Sadly such protests hit the people working in
the unorganised sector most as their day’s wage might get lost for no fault of
theirs. The Communists who claim to
represent the worker, wage earner and unorganized sector would do nothing on
this count.
Hours after making a statement that he would pull out of
the UPA government if it continued with its anti-people policies, DMK leader
Karunanidhi backtracked saying that he never threatened to quit.
“We can’t say we will quit if there is no rollback of
petrol prices. We never threatened to pull out of the UPA. Communal forces will
enter government if we quit” he said, at a hastily convened press conference in
Chennai. Earlier Karunanidhi created a
media frenzy when he said, ““If this government continues to violate the
fundamental principles of the Dravidian movement, we will have no hesitation in
separating from the UPA alliance”.
There were times, when call for Bandh threatened to
immobilize and paralyse the way of life of commoners but over the years Indian
democracy has matured and it is time, the political parties too learn their way
in finding out newer ways of channelling
popular sentiments without causing economic losses and inflicting misery on
common folks.
With regards – S. Sampathkumar .
When all pleas fall on deaf ears. When all options of advise die down. When elected Govts behave as per their whims and fancies. When the common man is really hit under the belt by his on representative, then bandh is the only option left to him. Here teh UPA and especially the Congress has become very adamant and this bandh is justified. Let people resolve to put an end to Congress rule.
ReplyDeleteWhen there is a bandh, the daily wagers has to suffer a lot. On one side we are speaking about development of India and on the other side by calling bandhs we are paralyzing the life of the weaker sections. Can one point out the socio-economic implications of frequents bandhs? Is this bandh culture really effective?
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