Bandh- The (Civil Disobedience) Political Protest

                    Bandh- The Civil Disobedience  Political Protest

            

I remember growing up in India, me and my friends use to enjoy the ‘bandhs’ (closing) since the schools were off and it was a full-on fun day. Never knew what it meant, except that we always wanted more of it. I also remember participating in one of the bandh rallies holding the placard, didn’t knew what it said though.

Bandh, is a powerful means of civil disobedience. Alas, the ‘civil’ part of the bandh got lost somewhere in recent times. It has become a political tool. It’s funny how the rule of law works in India, because it is unlawful to organize bandhs in India based on the 1998 Supreme Court verdict and elected leaders are opening flouting the law. Well, that’s India’s judicial system- it’s for the aam admi not for the people with power. Everything else aside just think about the economic impact, think about all the day laborers who loose there daily earning because of the break-down in the normal life.

Personally speaking, I think the bandhs are a way of showing the political strength of a leader. The more successful the bandh, the more they can demand from their counterparts when the time comes to jump the ship during the political turmoil. And I am sure an average educated Indian thinks the same way; hence the Bharat bandh from yesterday wasn’t as successful (if ever there was a way to measure it).

The bharat bandh called upon by the opposing parties on May 31^st, was because of governing Congress party’s decision to hike the petrol prices by 10%. BJP, Janta Dal, Shiv Sena and other parties were ‘upset’ because they felt for the aam admi. Well, that’s ironic because not too long ago, the BJP/Shiv Sena led government in Maharastra, increased the bus fares of BEST by 40-50%- The life line of over 4 million Mumbaikars.

Bandhs are nothing but an ‘official’ way of destroying public and private properties. It’s an open secret that political parties hire goons and other activities to become a part of the bandhs to make it ‘successful’ because an an aam admi and his family are indoors, off street, off work, off school waiting for the next ‘normal’ day to go back to living life, again.