Why Strikes ? Hartals ? Bandhs ?

Strikes ? Hartals ? Bandhs ? 

It takes a few seconds for me, to recollect and understand the difference between strikes, bandhs and hartals. But yes I must say, when you speak about the beauty of Kerala you cannot miss your thoughts on the ' Hartal state'.

Most of the time people in India use this as their medium to communicate, or to convey their pain, or even their demands. What makes me wonder is, is this the only way? Shutting down shops, burning of buses,cancelling trains etc, are these the only things that we can do?

Cartoon by: R K Laxman

When it is 'a government of the people, by the people and for the people', why the so called people have to suffer so much. Who are the so called people in the above mentioned Indian national  quote?

Questions! Questions! Questions! As a citizen of India, I do appreciate freedom but its at times too expensive. If we look in to the impact of these  protest activities, the one who suffers is obviously you and me. Its a form of silent violence at times, but we cant ignore the stampedes and lathi charges too.

All I understand is, that it is difficult to satisfy every citizen of the country and if we as individuals raise out voice against the unacceptable decisions made by our government, I am sure our voices wont reach the concerned authority. But the fact is, we end up spending almost all of our precious time running behind it. We may get what we need, or we may not; but we definitely will reach a point of frustration.

This frustration also leads to crimes. A person who is frustrated with the society, will take moves to find some peace by spoiling the society's peace. So, we need to be sure whether its crime or criminals that we need to punish.

The government needs to be sure as to what should be done when a genuine citizen fights for his right, else the country will experience many instances that may lead to a uncontrollable or violent situation.

Making new laws is not always a better solution, but applying the laws and also increasing the speed at which justice is given to the victims can be a big relief to most of the citizens. Then, most of the people will not need to fight for their rights through mediums like hartals, bandhs or strikes.

Nadar Shaila Sunder