Yet another hartal !

Being a democracy, every Indian has the right to protest against unfair practices and injustices. However calling for a hartal at the drop of hat is not something that goes well with any literate society like that of Kerala.  It is paradoxical that tomorrow’s call for hartal by the CPM is to protest against the arrest of one of its leaders  for conspiring in the murder of an activist of another party!  Gone are the days when hartals used to be a powerful tool to protest against the atrocities in the society ; now it has become  more of a tool for  arm twisting and intimidating the people.  Apart from the loss of manhours and business revenue, hartals will throw normal life off gear. Tourists will be stranded  in  what they thought was a God’s own country, leaving the message that it can be a devil’s world too at times! Patients suffer for want of medical aid, exams and job interviews will be postponed and marriage arrangements will go hay wire for many a couple.

Afterall , downing the shutters for a day and  being forced to remain indoors will not bring any magical cure for the ills that plague our society. It seems that the time has come to  hold a ‘hartal against hartals’, to protest against the innumerable shut downs that we have to endure. Kerala has been  punished by  a spate of regional issue-based hartals in recent times in addition to the countless  nation-wide strikes called by various political outfits.  It is high time that the political parties come out with a practical solution to register a protest without harassing the hapless common man. How about working overtime  to highlight the grievances as in the case of Japan? )