Hartals have clearly beco-me a way of life in Kerala which has seen as many as 363 of them, called by different political parties, since 2005.

There have been 18 hartals so far this year alone. While hartals are called for various reasons, political, economic and social, they dont really achieve what the organisers set out to.

Prof K.M. Seethi of the School of International Rel-ations and Politics, MG University, Kottayam, ridi-cules the idea of paralysing the functioning of a state with a hartal, when the outcome is a given.
“A Kerala hartal cannot result in a rollback of the diesel price hike.

The decision-makers at the Centre will not even hear about it and it will only add to the problems of the people,” he says, observing that developed countries dont resort to such forms of protest although they place great importance on democratic values. “A state cannot hope to develop with such irrelevant protests,” he warns.

“When the twin towers of the World Trade Centre collapsed, American politicians did not call for a hartal. Instead, they focused on rescuing people and saving lives. And later turned their attention to nabbing the terrorists.

The action of the politicians and other groups in New York proved to the world that they were only concerned about the welfare of the people. There was no curfew or mob violence,” he points out.

Haridas, president of ‘The Proper Channel’, an NGO in Kochi, says calling of hartals by political parties is a violation of the nine guidelines issued by the high court.

“We have filed a petition regarding this violation in the court. No developed country supports disrupting all activity across a state.

KSRTC has suffered a loss of Rs 80 crore due to hartal violence since 2008. People need to take a firm stance against them and go about their work as usual,” he insists.

Striking the wrong chord

Here are some facts to demonstrate why calling a hartal to set right a grievance is such a stale idea.

The centre raised the price of diesel to record levels just three months after two hartals were staged in protest against the record hike in petrol prices.

Liquor sales in Beverages Corporation outlets on the day before a hartal shoot up by an average of Rs 3 crore.

In 2005, BMW officials turned their back on Kerala after the two attempts made by its top officials to meet the chief minister happened on hartal days.

A Labour Department study in 2010 had revealed that nearly 95 percent of those in the unorganised sector – fish workers, construction workers, daily wagers of all kinds – are deprived of a day’s work and wages as a result of a hartal.

These facts expose hartals for what they are: One, the authorities have grown immune to them. Two, the general public consider them as a public holiday. Three, they scare investments away. Four, they are harshest on the poor.

Hartals have come a full circle; from revolutionising the freedom movement to becoming a major public nuisance.

“Hartal was evolved by Gandhi as an effective weapon for the weak. Now political parties use this as a weapon to harass the weak,” political commentator B.R.P. Bha-skar said.

“As a political weapon, hartal has become im-potent. It has ceased to have any effect on the aut-horities. Parties are resorting to hartals simply because they cannot come up with anything better,” he said.

Former naxallite leader and social activist K.Venu said that a hartal was the best way to establish the clout of a political party.

“It is convenient for both the political party and the public. Even if an insignificant party calls for a hartal, people are only too willing to oblige,” he said. Shashi Tharoor, MP, the most vocal critic of hartals, wants the practice to be banned.

“The single largest negative factor preventing Kerala growth and inve-stment is our hartal culture,” he said.

Hartal passes off peacefully

The dawn-to-dusk State-wide hartal called by the Left parties and Bharatiya Janata Party in protest against the diesel price hike was by and large total and peaceful in the city and the suburbs. The only violence reported in the district was in Muvattupuzha where a KSRTC bus was stoned.

The incident occurred at 3 am on Saturday resulting in the bus going off the road and thus injuring seven including the driver and the conductor.

However, the local left activists said they had no role in the stoning incident. The police suspects antisocial activists are behind the incident.

There were a few rough incidents in the western parts of the city when hartal supporters forcibly closed shops, eateries etc. They also blocked vehicles in some places.

Heavy police force was deployed to maintain law and order. The streets wore a deserted look with private and state transport corporation vehicles staying off roads.

Educational institutions, shops and other establishments, including petrol pumps, remained closed.

Hartal also affected the functioning of the civil station and the district collectorate. While 10 offices in the civil station remain closed, only negligible staff presence was witnessed in the offices that functioned. Even the skeleton staff present returned home by afternoon in many offices.

What they say about hartal

By all accounts, hartal as a form of protest has gone well past its sell-by date. Deccan Chronicle tries to find out whether we can fight for our rights in a more sensible way. We asked a cross-section of our readers, from leaders and opinion makers to the youth whether it is possible to evolve a non-party-centric inspirational means of mass protest to put our genuine grievances across.

Shashi Tharoor, Thiruvananthapuram MP, author and former UN official: I am strongly in favour of any non-disruptive forms of protest – holding a placard or marching peacefully. There are no indications to suggest that hartals are necessary to air our grievances or that they are more effective than other saner means of protest. On the other hand, hartals have done enough damage to Kerala’s economy.

Babu Paul, former additional chief secretary: Kerala should enlist the media in its fight against injustice. Instead of holding hartals at the drop of a hat, the sentiments of the public can be very effectively conveyed to the powers that be through the media.

Renjith Ramachandran, Technopark employee: Social media is an effective tool to convey the mass protest of the people, that too without causing any inconvenience to the public. It is high time we say goodbye to hartals as it is not yielding any results other than putting the common man through untold miseries.

Girish Krishnan, a Graphic designer at Technopark: “Hartals will only add to the trouble of the common man and the worst is that it will not yield any results. No one is going to reduce the price of diesel because of a hartal. It is one more day of trouble for the people. An alternative way of protest can be to bombard our ministers with mass smses. The messages should be sent at the same time, the same day.”

Rajashree Pradeep, home maker: “Protest is a democratic right, it also involves a bit of sacrifice on the part of the public. But it should not be a full shutdown. Shops should be kept open. Vehicles, however, should keep away from the roads as a mark of protest”