Hartal God’s Own Country

Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan has justified the call for a hartal in the state on April 27 to protest Centre’s “failure” to contain price rise of essential commodities. The hartal has been declared by the ruling Left Front. If it were a Bandh, obviously Achuthanandan must not have endorsed it because the court has banned the bandh as unconstitutional. Then, what is the difference between a hartal and a bandh? No one has a clear cut demarcation between the two. God only knows what is meaning of Bandh and its difference from hartal. For ordinary people “hartal” is the synonym of bandh but for the court there is a difference.
When the court banned the bandh as undemocratic and unconstitutional, the word has been transformed conveniently in to hartal by the political parties. The parties consider there is no existence for them if occasional hartals are not observed in the state. Many criticize hartals because of the damages done by it such as loss of man power, paralysis of industrial sectors , educational institutions, banking organizations etc. However, the hartal brings many advantagestoo!.

The present financial position of the State Government is very bleak, whatever may be the gesticulation of the Finance Minister. The major source of income for the government is from the sale of Indian made foreign liquor and sale of river sands from dam sites. And without this income the government could not survive. The revenue from liquor will be high on hartal day as most people enjoy hartal as a holiday and keep a bottle of his brand at home. He spends the day enjoying TV along with liquor and snacks. The channels make more money on hartal day by airing a block buster along with handful of advertisements. The transport corporation also earns a little by not keeping all schedules.

Prohibition of travel in vehicles saves money spent for fuel. Since people of Kerala are well experimented with the comics of hartal no body could punish them by observing hartal. It is for daily wage owners and ailing aged ones the hartal brings harm. All hartals are a kind of unkindness and ways to show the muscle power of political parties. Kerala has become a hartal god’s on state and even a two member party could paralyze the state by a hartal call.

I don’t think after the ‘highly successful hartal’ the price of essential commodities in the state would come down. The on going hartal is a crafty way of LDF government in the state to sell more liquor and make more revenue. Rule and ruin is the watchword of the present LDF government.

K A Solaman
Published, The New Indian Express on 25-4-2010