‘Mangaluru Bandh’: Did BJP/Sangh Parivar Accomplish Anything? Nothing.

‘Mangaluru Bandh’: Did BJP/Sangh Parivar Accomplish Anything? Nothing.

‘He (Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan) Came, He Saw, He Conquered’ the hearts of many of his party men, his fans and others, but on the other hand the members of Sangh Parivar and BJP who tried all their efforts in stopping his arrival to the City by protests, meetings- and even calling for a Mangaluru Bandh- ended in “Zero” results. The best part is that members of CPI(M) and other party reps are rejoicing on their victory, and laughing at the failure unwanted gimmicks played by the saffron groups and BJP.

Mangaluru: Coming to the point: do Bandhs like the one that Mangaluru witnessed on Saturday served any purpose? Apart from being PR exercises which give the call for these events, there seems to be precious little that our country/state/City is gaining in terms of the welfare of its people. On the contrary, the common man is inconvenienced even further with the shutting down of transportation, businesses and educational establishments, etc etc. Perhaps it wouldn’t be going too far if one were to suggest that ‘Bandh’ as an instrument of expression of disenchantment with the ruling dispensation has far outlived its usefulness. One easily loses track of the number of such ‘Bandhs’ organized by various political parties in recent times. Has even a single one proved to be successful in its objective? What then, is the point in continuing to persist with them and paralyze the normal life of the public, further?

So here we were again with yet another one-day “Mangaluru Bandh’. Seemed like some BJP leaders and Saffron activists were hooked on stupidity by arranging a “Bandh,” which not only crippled normal life but also resulted in huge losses to the businesses and govt. The agenda here was that a common man bore the brunt again. But did this ‘ Bandh’ resolve anything for that matter? Absolutely nothing! The perspective behind the ‘ Bandh’ is totally lost, it looks like it was just used to showcase the political strength of a Party and Saffron activists.

Come to think of it do you find a single political leader or a saffron activist right now on whose call people selflessly or voluntarily chose to strike on a big scale, forget about the country or state, even a town cannot be closed voluntarily from an individual or a group who is so morally right and has political support. So naturally the leaders and saffron groups have to resort to bandhs which are no doubt not the solution, but is there a way out to show public anger to govt policies? Not surprisingly bandhs have become the handiest tool in the hands of politicians, Maoists, narrow-minded social groups who want to make a flash on the media by adopting the shock factor in the news. They do anything which disrupts normal life. We are morally dead, utterly corrupt and short-sighted, don’t rise above the personal interest, how can we see the nation?

Just because the shops and other establishments decide to close during the ‘Bandh’, doesn’t mean that they supported the bandh – they just didn’t want to face any untoward incidents. All this bandh did was – a few BJP party leaders along with their party members and Saffron activists raised some slogans and got wide publicity in the media, that’s it! Who did not benefit from this bandh? The govt/city administration lost crores in revenues; businesses lost day’s profits; daily-wage workers/labourers and their families suffered due to loss of one-day wages; etc; Obviously this ‘ Bandh’ was sheer useless. Even travellers who wanted to reach their respective destinations were stranded in bus-stands and other places and cursing the people behind this bandh. This is democracy at its worst, where people are stranded like anything without normalcy here. While the citizens were taken for a ride, I don’t know what our government/district administration is doing by allowing parties to issue bandh calls which are disrupting everything.

We may not have achieved anything tangible as such by these type of Bandhs or protests now and then, but can we deny the fact that the Bandhs are also a form of showing public resentment against the establishment of the day, be it of any party. Democracy has deep roots in India, that’s for sure. Of course, these Bandhs create public discomfiture and ultimately the loss incurred have to be borne by the public and the worst part is that the forceful Bandhs do cause public damage to property and loss to life which is indeed very reprehensible. But is there a solution, an alternative? The opposition who are also neck deep in corruption along with the ruling party does not even take part in meaningful debates which concern the common man, it always wants to play to the gallery and selectively raise the issue where it is needed, that is on the floor of the Parliament or state legislatures.

Not many bandhs have achieved positive results in the past-they only further inflation because of loss of productivity in crores. If bandh was a solution to everything, then there wouldn’t be problems in life. So what’s the outcome of a ‘ Bandh’? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! Sheer wastage of productivity and inconvenience to common people. It only serves the interest of political parties and their workers. Bandh has lost its vitality and relevance long back after Independence. We the educated people should think alternate ways to speak out rather than bandhs, that worries people. We need to stop listening to political leaders. Also, political leaders should not go in for bandhs on citizens-let the people decide whether to support or not support the bandh depending on the issues.

There are many other ways to protest against the government or against a party’s decisions/wrong-doings, but we restore to the easiest and most lunatic way of doing so. If you see other developed countries nowhere such kind of bandh is 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 of 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. One day ‘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?