In May 2002, the Supreme Court upheld a Kerala High Court order which stated “the enforcement of a hartal by force, intimidation—physical or mental—and coercion amounts to an unconstitutional act. A political party has no right to enforce it by resorting to force or intimidation”. Much water has flown under the bridge since the ruling and Kerala has continued to witness hartals called by various political outfits which keep disrupting public life and causing much hardship.
But the April 16 hartal call that began doing the rounds on a few WhatsApp groups and was propagated by SDPI and PFI activists to protest the Kathua rape has left the state government and most political parties in the state stunned. As much for the audacity as for the ease with which a hartal was called online.
Expressing solidarity with the hartal, thousands of youth took to the streets in the north Kerala districts unleashing violence and clashing with the police. In a bid to gain lost ground, the parties started crying over the legality of the hartal which had no official sanction of any political outfit. The Indian Union Muslim League was the first to denounce the hartal while the state government launched a massive manhunt to nab the instigators. As the police continued its offensive against the perpetrators of the unofficial hartal, many have started to ask the question: “Are there official hartals? Can hartals called by political parties be legal and official?”
What has really irked the state and other political parties is that a hartal could be called without their support. Because the clear message that has gone out: Anyone can call a hartal in Kerala. Consider this: there were 63 hartals enforced by various parties in 2017—BJP and its allies led with 25, CPM had 11 and UDF eight. The writing on the wall is quite clear: Social media can be a double-edged sword. It can as much harness positive energy as it can turn destructive, as it did in Kerala on April 16.