75 strikes in Kerala already this year and losing count

• BJP was first to organise a statewide hartal this year. The party is yet to get a single Assembly seat but its hartal on May 2 grounded the entire state. Its cause: protest against price rise.

• Both comrades and the Parivar — who otherwise kill each other in Kannur and then call hartals to mark that — joined hands to shut down the state on June 5 against the hike in fuel prices.

• Hindu groups again hit the state with another hartal on July 3, over the Amarnath land issue.

• On July 21, the CPM-led Left slapped another hartal across the state in protest against the death of a school teacher in political violence, allegedly involving the Muslim League.

• The coastal town of Kodungalloor — the new Sangh-CPM battleground — saw hartals for three consecutive days. On July 3, the city was shut as part of a statewide hartal. The murder of a DYFI activist that day forced the CPM-DYFI combine to call for a hartal on July 4. The following day, local traders observed another hartal, in protest against attack on shops.

• On July 24, Thalassery town, along Kerala-Mumbai highway, shut down in protest against the murder of a CPM worker by NDF.

• Mulavukadu panchayat in Ernakulam district joined the hartal chronicle on July 26 against alleged police highhandedness towards a panchayat member.

• Wayanad district, the major link between Kerala and Karnataka, remained shut on August 5, after the Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) wanted a bailout package for crisis-ridden farmers in the district.

• UDF sponsored a district hartal in Idukki, which houses several tourist spots, on June 30, to register the protest against CPM attack on Congressmen.

• The BJP in Palakkad organized a district hartal on February 6, after its workers were arrested as part of anti-goonda drive of police.

Recently, the Kerala High Court came down heavily on the state Government considering a bunch of petitions asking the court to initiate contempt of court against the government which failed to ensure normal life on a hartal day.

... contd.