63 bandhs in Kerala this year, RSS tops with 25
After every round of violence, newspaper offices in Kerala are often flooded with a question: Is there a hartal (bandh) tomorrow or not? For Keralites, hartal has become a part of their life.
But the politics of bandh is hitting business hard in God’s Own Country — the tourism tagline that describes the state.
Kerala witnessed 63 shutdowns this year, both statewide and regional. The Sangh Parivar, desperately trying to get a foothold in the state, topped the list with 25 calls. The ruling CPI (M) was second with 11 calls.
The state capital witnessed one last week and north Kerala district Kozhikkode was shut for two consecutive days. Seemingly, there is competition among rival parties to call for a bandh first.
On June 9, both CPI(M) and BJP called a shutdown in Kozhikkode after their workers vandalised each other’s office. But the bandh spilled over to the next day after BMS, the trade union wing of RSS, thought it was not proper to call a joint shutdown with its arch rival. So it called a bandh the next day.
Privately, leaders across parties admit they are against shutdown but in the same breath add they are forced to do it. You ask them: What did you achieve by disrupting a day’s work, you get a stock reply: “Our protests were heard in the higher-ups.” Leftists go a step further, saying “the state achieved everything through such struggles”.
Things have come to such a pass that even a minor party can call a bandh. Last week an unknown entity called Muslim Ekopana Samiti called a bandh in Kochi to protest the Kerala HC verdict annulling an inter-faith marriage. Traders say they are forced to close outlets out of fear and not to show any solidarity with the party calling a bandh.
In Kozhikkode, traders took a march against frequent hartal, saying they suffered huge losses during the festive season. “We are fed up. We are forced to stand up against frequent shutdowns,” said K Sethumadhava, spokesman of Kerala Traders’ Association. A recent study shows a day’s shutdown costs the state ₹900 crore in organised sector alone. Tourism mandarins are also sore, saying shutdowns pinch them. “Recently a foreigner who starved a whole day in Munnar due to a strike said the state will remain her last choice,” a tour operator said. ‘We don’t fancy calling hartals. But we don’t have any choice. Our workers are being hounded by both CPI(M) workers and police. They are not even safe in their houses,” said BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan.
Rail passengers can look forward to a new kind of toilet system — urinals, westernstyle toilets with hot water and washing closet seat facility and separate washrooms for men and women equipped with triple mirrors for make-up.
The E5 Shinkansen series bullet trains for service on the upcoming Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed corridor will also have baby changing rooms comprising baby toilet seats, tables for diaper disposal, and a low sink for children for washing hands.
The Railways is gearing up to acquire 25 E5 Shinkasen series bullet trains from Japan at an estimated cost of ~5,000 crore for the government’s first bullet train project. The 731-seater E5 series bullet train, a new generation Japanese high speed train, will also have a multi-purpose room to be used for breast feeding and also for sick passengers. There will be two extra-spacious toilets for wheelchair-bound passengers in the 10-coach train.
Facilities of separate restrooms and toilets for men and women while introducing wallmounted type urinals for men are in the offing for the first time in Indian Railways.