An open and shut case

Thiruvananthapuram, August 27: “Even God cannot save this state,” the Kerala High Court observed recently while hearing a bunch of petitions seeking a directive to the Government to ensure that citizens aren’t disturbed on a hartal day.

However, perhaps no one knows better than the Kerala HC that rulings such as this don’t really matter in the state. In 1997, the state high court had effectively banned bandhs. In 10 years, that hasn’t stopped anyone. They just don’t call it a bandh these days; they refer to it as a hartal.

The last hartal was just a week ago, on August 20, when Left unions called a nationwide stir against the economic policies of the Centre. The trade unions in the state converted that into a 24-hour hartal. In the last eight months, the state has seen six such state-wide hartals and 75-odd local and region hartals.

While the LDF Government has been desperately wooing investors to the state, the Left coalition fathered three of those six state-wide hartals. An outfit that calls itself the Anti-Hartal Front says Kerala witnesses five to seven state-wide hartals on an average, 50-odd district ones and 150 at the local levels.

According to the Kerala Chamber of Commerce, the state suffers a loss of Rs 450 crore from a day’s hartal. Chairman E S Jose calls hartal a weapon for politicians who have nothing else to do, and warns that this could scare away investors at a time when several mega projects are in the pipeline in the state.

He also points out that it’s only the salaried employees who perhaps welcome a hartal. “The business class and the self-employed face huge losses. How will an ordinary worker survive if he is denied jobs due to hartals?” Jose asked.

To ensure that these strike calls are a success, the sponsors ensure two things: bring vehicular transport to a standstill, and prevent business establishments and offices from functioning.

It’s not a surprise then that the debt-ridden state-owned transport corporation perhaps suffers the most, incurring on an average a loss of Rs 3 crore from a day’s strike. With its buses sitting ducks for protestors to take out their anger, it takes up to three days to return fleet operations to normal. For example, since the Left Government assumed office in May 2006 in the state, KSRTC (Kerala State Road Transport Corporation) services have remained affected for 95 days, either partially or fully.

Recently, the state Government filed an affidavit in the high court saying efforts were on to find a consensus among political parties on how to address the problem of hartals. It said the Government wanted the support of the people on this.

However, as Congress spokesperson M M Hassan, who has campaigned against hartals, says: “People cannot be blamed for the success of hartals. They remain indoors, fearing attack from hartal sponsors. Poltiical parties have to take a firm stand.”