KOCHI: Kerala fumed on Friday as yet another hartal hit normal life. In the wee hours of Thursday, the National Investigation Agency and the Enforcement Directorate held joint raids at 93 locations in 15 states. Several Popular Front of India (PFI) leaders were arrested on charges of terror links.
While discussions and debates ensued in other parts of India, Kerala was forced into a shutdown, courtesy the dawn-to-dusk flash hartal by PFI.
Hundreds of people were left stranded at bus stops, railway stations and other public places. City streets were deserted. Masked men on two-wheelers pelted stones at vehicles, shops, hotels and restaurants, forcing them to down the shutters. Most schools remained closed.
The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) was forced to temporarily halt services, as over 70 buses were attacked. Reports said even a ‘petrol bomb’ was hurled at a bus in Kannur. News channels and social media were flooded with visuals of damaged vehicles. An ambulance shifting a patient, too, came under attack in Thrissur.
Terming the hartal call “illegal”, the Kerala High Court said it “amounts to contempt of the directions of this court”. In January 2019, the court had banned ‘flash hartals’, and mandated a seven-day notice for such protests.
Stressing that destruction of the public property could not be accepted, the court urged the state to take stern action against the violators.
Welcoming the court’s suo moto intervention, ‘Say No To Hartal’ campaign general convener Raju P Nair says: “We have been running the campaign for 10 years, and ours was one of the petitions on which the High Court issued the order regarding the seven-day notice. Despite court directives, a flash hartal was called. This should not be tolerated. Strong action should be taken.”
Say No To Hartal’s Kochi coordinator, Eldho Chirackachalil, says many passengers “from far-off destinations” were left stranded. “We arranged transportation facilities at the Ernakulam South Railway with the help of 22 volunteers,” he says.
In Thiruvananthapuram, Federation of Residents’ Association, Thiruvananthapuram president M S Venugopal alleges that the police went soft on protesters. “No precautions were taken to prevent violence, or arrest those who violated law,” he says. “They have authority to crack down on such illegal protests, but chose to be mute spectators.”
Traders across the state were left seething after the hartal call. They accused the government of handling the illegal hartal with kid gloves.
“Whenever a hartal is declared, traders incur huge losses,” says Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi president S S Manoj. “Let protesters raise their concerns with the authorities concerned in a peaceful manner. Why cause trouble the public? We call for strong action.”
Kerala Hotel and Restaurant Association president G Jayapal, too, slams the flash hartal. “Stones were pelted at hotels and restaurants in many places,” he says. “This cannot be termed as ‘hartal’. It is goondaism!”