When the whole world is moving towards a ‘new normal’, another Hartal Day is being celebrated in Kerala.
G Vijaya Raghavan
I am not questioning the cause for which the hartal has been called or discussing the merits or demerits of the agitation. One thing that we will all notice is that across the country it is called a Bandh in Kerala it is Hartal. Across the country, except for certain small pockets, life is normal while in Kerala life is disrupted, in most places in Kerala people were forced to close their shops and establishments. Government-run KSRTC stopped working, all exams were postponed.
When I checked with people around the country I was told that farmers are protesting but that has not affected other businesses or factories from functioning and except in areas where there are protest marches etc life is normal. In fact, that is the case even in Punjab and Haryana.
Some questions and my answers to them:
1. Whom is the protest against? The answer is of course the central Government.
2. Has this strike affected the working of the PMO or the offices of any Union Minister or Secretary to Govt of India? The answer is a big No.
3. Then who is the one who is impacted by the Bandh or Hartal? The common man of course, and they have no means to protect themselves and are forced to stay away from work and they get no wage and a days income is lost.
It is high time we changed our methods of protest. A protest is successful and makes an impact only when it affects the person or group of persons against whom the protest is targeted at. The news both print and visual coverage can be got without making the lives of the common man difficult or disrupting it.
What is happening in Kerala is we are proving to the world that come what may we will continue with our dated forms of protest without realising the damage that this is being inflicted to the state and the impact it will have on the biggest mission of the state to create new jobs.
We are forcing the Malayalee to go elsewhere in search of jobs as we will not allow the employers to run their establishments here. The only saving grace this time was the education of the children was not impacted as classes were virtual (or at least that is what I think unless the teachers are on strike also).
One thing is sure Kerala is back to the ‘old normal’ while the whole world is moving towards a ‘new normal’.
G Vijayaraghavan is the Founder CEO of Technopark, Trivandrum. He is also a former member of the Kerala State Planning Board.
Editor’s note: Many schools in Kerala cancelled their online classes today and even recorded videos sessions (for lower classes) were also not shared.