There were, at least, four in
2012.
February 20 and 21 are days of
mountainous discomfort for the Indians it can be said. All the central trade
unions have called the ‘Bandh’ or ‘general strike’ across the country to
protest the anti-people policies of the government.
On a countrywide scale, it can be
easily assumed that the services will be hit hardly as these trade unions have good
inroads in the public sector undertakings and behemoths like the Indian Railways,
in banking and insurance sector, in semi-organized sectors like transportation
and in unorganized sectors. To make matters worse, the auto-unions in Delhi and Mumbai have also
called two-day strike on February 20 and 21.
‘Bandhs’ are not new in India . In fact,
I can still recollect appeals by the ‘Bandh’ calling parties and the
counter-appeals and Doordarshan advertisements by the government before and
after the August 30, 1989 ‘Bharat Bandh’ called by opposition political parties
at the height of the Bofors scam or appeals made by the government before a
proposed 24-hour Indian Railways ‘Chakka Jaam’ (stop the wheel) in 1990’s.
Political parties and
trade-unions keep on calling ‘Bandhs’, mainly to score political goals;
sometimes, legitimately. It is argued that a ‘Bandh’ is a form of civil
disobedience protest, necessary to awaken the ruling class.
General strikes are good as long
as they involve voluntary participation of the public. When that is the case,
then the opportunity cost of the economic loss is justified, as the protest
call is to make the system more accountable and transparent.
That doesn’t happen always, not
in the recent times. Increasingly, the elements of violence have overtaken the
‘civil’ nature of the ‘Bandhs’.
To bolster the claims, the
pro-‘Bandh’ parties take anti-civil measures to force others to follow the
‘Bandh’. Arson, loot and forced shutdown have become common features of any
‘Bandh’ these days.
The common man who is an employee
in government or a private firm, or who he is a small time businessman or a grocer
or daily wage earner, finds himself ground harshly between the pro- and anti-
parties.
The claimed figures of loss
(10,000-12,500 crore for September 2012 ‘Bandh’, 3000-13,000 crore for July
2012 ‘Bandh’ or projected 15,000-20,000 crore for February 2013 ‘Bandh’) affect
him more and not the parties who make the claims and the counterclaims.
The government, to prove its
point, pressurizes the employees to report at work. The ‘Bandh’ parties, on the
other hand, do all, to deter them from stepping out.
The coming two days are going to
be troublesome days if one intends to follow the routine of normal working
weekdays.
The government is not going to
give its employees off. Same cannot be expected from the private firm owners or
managements of the corporate entities. Small time businessmen, if not
participating, will be forced to take a hit. Daily wage earners would be the
hardest hit.
Like the ‘Bandhs’ called by the
political parties, the trade union strikes, too, have had a history of violence
in the recent past.
Let’s see what happens tomorrow
and the day after.
©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/
