Bharath Bandh 95% Flop in City! Cruise Ship Italian Passengers Enjoy the City on Bandh Day
Mangaluru: If the organizers of Bharath Bandh think that the First day of Bharath Bandh was successful- they are absolutely WRONG! Apart from schools and colleges closed as per the orders of the City, other than that nearly 95-97% of the shops were open, and many city buses and auto-rickshaws were seen plying on the streets. The heavy police force had prevented any untoward incidents in the city. Even bunch of service buses were also operational. But in the meantime, taxis and auto-rickshaws were seen charging excess fares for out of town visitors to reach their destination. An Ola taxi driver was charging a bunch of girls over Rs 2000 to and fro from Mangaluru to Mulky. What a rip-off?
Speaking to Peter Perilli, a cruise ship passenger who was taking a tour of the Central Fish Market by Team Mangalorean, when asked whether there are any Bandhs taking place in Italy. Peter replied, “What is Bandh, I have never heard of that name”. Bandh is the closure of a city or nation with force by the citizens, replied Team Mangalorean. “Are you crazy or what. We Italians are not foolish to shut down our country. Give me a break, buddy!” replied Peter in a grumpy voice. Oh well, we Indians should learn from these Italians to stay away from Nation Bandhs, which is a sheer waste of time and huge loses.
By the way, did we accomplish anything from today’s bandh- I bet absolutely NOTHING other than putting people’s lives in hardship and putting businesses in huge loses. Are all these organizations and leaders proud of their decision to close India and Mangaluru for TWO days, thereby putting the citizens, hard-working people and businessmen/traders in hardship? Does it make any sense, when bandhs/strikes/hunger strikes in the past have shown no results at all, rather than a waste of time and a huge loss. And or the fact, even when the Supreme Court has issued orders not to call for any Bandh, then what good is Court’s ruling, when people give a damn about it.
Bars and wine shops made a brisk business and many were charging few bucks extra. The first person to suffer due to this ‘ Bandh’ today was the daily wage worker, he/she lost one-day wages, and some workers were kept hungry. Even travelers who want to reach their respective destinations were stranded in bus-stands and other places and cursing the people behind this bandh. This was democracy at its worst, where people were stranded like anything without normalcy in the country. While the citizens are going to be taken for a ride, I don’t know what our government is doing by allowing parties to issue bandh calls that are disrupting everything. Don’t our law enforcement authorities follow the rulings of the Supreme Court, not to allow bandhs.
If you see other developed countries, like Italy where we heard from the Cruise ship passenger, nowhere you will find such kind of bandh carried out. By committing to the most idiotic way of protest, “Bandh” we are not only jeopardizing the normal life but also creating chaos. We should restrain from getting influenced by such moves and use our
common sense and exercise the best way out to make the government realize its mistake…Period! What we need to see is have government/systems become people friendly like in other nations. I think ‘Bandhs’ are not the solution to solve issues, instead, transparency and reasoning/justification that we should be asking for.
We should ask why the government is taking such decisions and help the government with alternate solutions in case the government is unable to look for an appropriate solution. But this 2-day Bharath Bandh including Mangaluru Bandh’ will not solve any issues or problems. The bottom line is ‘ Bandhs’ will flame inflation for sure and will increase income disparity-making poor poorer. All I have to say is that ” Bandh ” is useless, waste of time and energy, huge losses and disruptions to normal life. I bet many of you will agree with me. What do you have to say? And what about tomorrow- I hope everyone stays open including schools and colleges. Let’s all stay away from
supporting the Bandh Call!
