Minister calls for ban on strikes

After one more strike in Kerala which fully crippled normal life in the state yesterday, state Information Minister M.M. Hassan has called for a ban on 'hartals' (demonstrations) and 'bandhs' (shutdowns).

The Kerala High Court has already banned holding of bandhs, following which the organisers of public protests have taken care to make a call for hartal (strike) and not bandh (total closure), and then achieve the same result.

Yesterday's strike brought life in the state to a standstill. To add to the irony, union leaders who had called for the strike announced in the evening that the "total success of the strike proved that the people of the state supported it".

Speaking at a function organised by the Kerala Sahrudaya Vedi, Hassan said bandhs, strikes and hartals should be ended for good.

"Hartals effectively end up as bandhs, and no one benefits from holding these. In fact, we are wasting manpower because of these hartals," Hassan said.

He also pointed out that it was becoming difficult to use the road in front of the State Secretariat on any day due to the proliferation of rallies and protest marches.

Showing his frustration at the disruptive protest marches, Hassan said that in no other state in the country would such rallies take place. "We should have a permanent place for such protest marches," he said.

State Road Transport Corporation buses did not ply on Tuesday, adding to the fear psychosis of the general public. Very few cars plied on the day of the strike and most people made do with two-wheelers.

At the Technopark here, there was only a sprinkling of staff as most of the 5,500-odd employees working with various companies in the campus played safe and did not turn up for work.