What bandh?The ruling coalition in the Government of Maharashtra called for a state-wide closure (bandh) on 11 October 2021, to ‘show that Maharashtra is with the farmers of the country.’ This is my reaction.
My opinion.
While I am WITH people’s right to protest without risking death by being run over by vehicles, shot by the police, or vilified by the government, I am AGAINST a sitting government, a ruling party, a coalition in power, calling for a hartal. Hartals are protests by the powerless who cannot get their voices heard without downing the very tools that the rich and the powerful expect them to keep working with to keep the wheels of the society moving and maintaining the status quo. They cannot, by definition, be used by those in power.
There are other ways to register one’s protest. Shiv Sena may not know any except closing down things forcibly and calling for bandhs, chakka jaams, and rail/rasta rokos, strong-arm grassroots action being their forte. But surely the other coalition partners like INC and NCP ought to have known better.
Did it affect me?
No, it did not disrupt my life. No hartal or bandh disrupts the lives of the empowered and privileged like us, the very people who the hartal is held to be able to hear the voice of the powerless and oppressed. It only disrupts and derails the lives of the poor. Perhaps, during the pre-independence era, this was a good tool to use against those that ruled us without representation. Perhaps, even today, it is a good tool to use against tyrannical governments (and dog alone knows we have one at the moment). Perhaps, it is a good tool to use by organised unions and workers in strategic sectors, which if shut down, even for a day, will cause immense pain (and financial loss) to the rich & powerful. But at this point (October 2021), for this reason (Lakhimpur Kheri), and called by these people (the CM of the state, no less), this Maharashtra bandh was unnecessary and an inefficient way to get the point across to the centre, which cares two hoots about the people of Maharashtra (or of India, for that matter). Indeed, it was painful for the very people, the farmers and workers, the poor and powerless, the oppressed and depressed classes, and hurt their livelihoods and families’ wellbeing for no upside whatsoever except some (bad) PR and (horrible) optics.
What else could they have done?
Well, a 2-minutes silence (announced by a siren across the state), official condemnation in the Assembly, and a full-page colour newspaper ad apologising to the farmers and declaring solidarity in Delhi papers would have been more effective. Perhaps, a full-page ad in all the UP and Punjab newspapers, in addition, would have been even better. The ad could have point by point explanation of what the Govt of Maharashtra’s and the people of Maharashtra’s stand is and how we are in solidarity with the dissenting farmers. This would have caused shock waves. But Maharashtra bandh is threatening to hold one’s breath like a kid throwing a tantrum. The centre will say, ‘Yeah, sure. Go right ahead.’ It is silly and childish.
Totally unnecessary. And perhaps counterproductive.
