For two days people in India were under a siege, unable to go out of their homes and do their jobs, unable to go out to meet their friends, unable to eat out, unable to go for a movie, all in the name of a general strike called by the trade unions in the country. The general strike on February 20 and 21 that was called by the Central trade unions and backed by all non-Congress parties, held the whole country to a standstill. Now that the general strike that was observed for 48 hours is over let us ask the question what have we gained from the general strike? As this writer had written in one of his previous essays, what have we achieved from the hartals?
The general strike was called for as a protest against rising petrol and diesel prices, rising inflation, for increasing the minimum wages of workers to Rs.10000, for putting pressure on the government to create more jobs etc. It is anyone’s guess that even after the strike none of these demands is going to be heard by the government. So when the intention is only to show our protest, can’t we find some new ways of doing it rather than going for archaic practices like complete shutdown of a country?
It is a shame that workers unions in our country, which have a great tradition and history, are unable to change with the times. There is no doubt that it is high time they find some new ways of protesting that would not hit at the economic well being of the country. It is an irony that workers who are protesting against government policies that are weakening the economy are further putting pressure on the same weak economy by complete shutdown of the country. If we go by the numbers put forwarded by ASSOCHAM, Indian economy has lost Rs. 26000 crores as a result of this 48 hours strike.
As is the case with all strikes in our state of Kerala, in the last 48 hours too, people who were going to their work places were threatened by the supporters of the strike. We also saw in the media that passengers were intimidated and in some cases manhandled by protesters. Even this writer was stopped by the protesters and was sternly told to return to his home or face the “consequences”. It is another matter of irony that workers unions that were formed to protect the jobs of the people and to create a favourable environment for work are themselves stopping workers from going to work.
Laws should be made and strictly enforced to make sure that strike supporters are not vandalising public and private property. If at all any sort of vandalism happens, those who are calling the strike should be held accountable for the damages. But such a law must be created by our law makers, the politicians. Therefore there is no hope for such a law to come into force. Unscrupulous politicians and party workers of all parties think that it is their birth right to cause destruction of public and private property on a strike or a hartal day. Such a situation should change or otherwise a time is not far when ordinary people fed up with such violence during strikes and hartals would take to the streets and physically confront those who indulge in it. If such a day comes, it would not be good for our country and its people.
