Ratheesh KrishnaVadhyar (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} ratheesh) wrote,@ 2007-10-01 11:27:00 |
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Anti-Hartal Day
From one of my relatives, I came to know about this Gandhian model campaign in Kerala against "Hartal". Campaign for Peace is an NGO that plans to send a lakh postcards to the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court requesting him to ensure safety of people during Hartal days. The plan is to send postcards on October 2, which is going to be observed as Hartal Viruddha Dinam (Anti-Hartal Day). Why not e-mails? I think it's because e-mails are not frequently read in many Government organizations in India, and having an email flood in the Inbox would hardly have any impact anywhere. But making a lakh postcards pile up in the mail-room would be a more effective form of symbolic protest.
The Hindu article http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/29/stories/2
In Kerala, earlier Bundh was banned by the High Court, but the political parties released it under a different label named Hartal. There is a joke that we should have "Today's Hartals" included as a section in daily news broadcasts in Kerala, just like "Daily Weather". For any incident, there would be one Hartal opposing it, and another one against the opposition. Hartals just make life miserable for all the people and achieve nothing. Hartal has become such a joke that it is not even a topic for Cinemala anymore. Ironically, Mahatma Gandhi was the person to pioneer Hartal in a large scale in India as an effective method to demonstrate protest against the British peacefully. But today, it is just misused everywhere (In Karnataka, recently the Government itself organized a Hartal against a Court Order).
I think what we need is not a "ban" on anything. People do have the right to protest. But, it should not be by taking away other's right to live. The request to the Chief Justice is just to ensure that.
From one of my relatives, I came to know about this Gandhian model campaign in Kerala against "Hartal". Campaign for Peace is an NGO that plans to send a lakh postcards to the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court requesting him to ensure safety of people during Hartal days. The plan is to send postcards on October 2, which is going to be observed as Hartal Viruddha Dinam (Anti-Hartal Day). Why not e-mails? I think it's because e-mails are not frequently read in many Government organizations in India, and having an email flood in the Inbox would hardly have any impact anywhere. But making a lakh postcards pile up in the mail-room would be a more effective form of symbolic protest.
The Hindu article http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/29/stories/2
In Kerala, earlier Bundh was banned by the High Court, but the political parties released it under a different label named Hartal. There is a joke that we should have "Today's Hartals" included as a section in daily news broadcasts in Kerala, just like "Daily Weather". For any incident, there would be one Hartal opposing it, and another one against the opposition. Hartals just make life miserable for all the people and achieve nothing. Hartal has become such a joke that it is not even a topic for Cinemala anymore. Ironically, Mahatma Gandhi was the person to pioneer Hartal in a large scale in India as an effective method to demonstrate protest against the British peacefully. But today, it is just misused everywhere (In Karnataka, recently the Government itself organized a Hartal against a Court Order).
I think what we need is not a "ban" on anything. People do have the right to protest. But, it should not be by taking away other's right to live. The request to the Chief Justice is just to ensure that.
