63 bandhs in Kerala this yr, Sangh Parivar 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 has 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 bandh calls. The ruling CPI (M) was second with 11 calls.
The state capital had 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. The frenzy of a shutdown makes them oblivious financial losses. Or so it seems.
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 the BMS, the trade union wing of RSS, thought it was not proper to call a joint shutdown with the 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 that 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 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. According to a recent study, a day’s shutdown costs the state ₹900 crore in organised sector alone. Tourism mandarins are also sore, saying shutdowns pinch them. Earlier there was a proposal to avoid tourism sector from the purview of bandhs but it failed to yield any result.
“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 complained. ‘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.