THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It has only been two weeks since Italian Elisabeth Cagmi arrived in India. On Friday when she reached the Thiruvananthapuram Railway station, with a copy of the Lonely Planet travel guide of the land, she was aware that a strike was underway in the state. But she was hopeful that like in her country, an alternate mechanism would have been arranged.
“It really depends on the reason for which the strike is being called. People will have their reasons to hold the strike, to highlight their issue. I understand that this strike has some political issues, and that one was held previously this week. But there must be some alternate system in place to ensure that minimal infrastructure is provided to people who are caught unawares,” says Elisabeth. “The train is running, so the buses must too, right?” she asks.
Two hartals in one week have put the city through some very difficult times, hitting the economy bad and crippling daily life. Though some private vehicles and auto rickshaws plied, commutation was largely affected. Anger was writ large on the faces of those left stranded at the railway station and bus stand.
“The loss is for the people itself. We had observed a hartal to protest the hanging of Saddam Hussein. Where else will this happen? We have to understand that there is an agenda behind every hartal. We celebrate hartal, and it is not an exaggeration to say that the eve of a hartal resembles that of the Uthradapachil,” says Sarvamdamanan, while waiting for his train at the railway station.
The sudden call for the hartal saw a large section of the people expressing their angst in social media. Like George K Thomas, who shared a video exhorting people to go about their daily lives and not to celebrate hartal. For people like George, a young entrepreneur, hartal costs dearly.
“These hartals, irrespective of the parties, leave a huge impact on the economy and affect people's productivity and development. Parties should come up with creative ways to express their protest. We have to stop celebrating hartals. It is a direct revenue loss,” says George, CEO, 'Life Chefs'. George's video has gone viral and many people reached out to him, expressing how they decided on not celebrating hartal.
Total number of hartals
In 2018 (Stats by Say No to Hartal)
(Local, district and state-wide)
Total - 97
BJP and affiliated outfits - 31
UDF - 23
Left - 17
In 2017
Total - 120
BJP and affiliated outfits - 47
UDF - 32
Left - 21