Bandh: Holding a Country to Ransom??

In the past few weeks I am sure all of us have seen the protests and bandh's about the petrol price hike, the Gujjars demand for ST status, the protest against inflation, renaming of brands and institutions that have the name Bombay to Mumbai and any many more.

Off late, the frequency & reasons for these protests and manner in which they have been carried out have gone beyond boundaries of common sense.

Let us start with path carnage left behind by the Shiv Sena in Mumbai. After getting bored of vandalizing Archie's outlets, Shiv Sena activists damaged and demonstrated against all Organizations and institutions that have name Bombay in their title. The Shiv Sena wanted institutions such as Bombay dying, Bombay stock exchange and the school Bombay Scottish to replace the name Bombay with Mumbai. The reason being Marathi Pride. Is the Marathi pride so superficial? Does the issue warrant the destruction of Property? Is the issue even worth protesting?
Next up is the Gujjars protests. This community based mainly in Rajasthan wants the government to change it's status from a backward caste to that of a schedule tribe. Yes, they want to be moved further down apparently non existent caste system. This is to ensure a greater bite of the reservation pie.

Now somebody explain to me how can this justify the blocking of national highways, blocking the railways and damage to public property. The other day it was announced that the railways has incurred a loss of 6.5 -7 crore's due to the actions of the Gujjars. Bringing the life line of the country to stand still is no way of putting forth your issue. You can not hold the country to ransom to forward your personal ambitions.

Recently in West Bengal a bandh was called for to protest the hike in fuel prices. The left was behind this action, the same political organization which is in power in the state and supports the central government. That sounds ok rite? So now comes the disturbing part the airport was also closed. Yes, that is right the closure was supported by the state government.

These bandh's more often than not are politically motivated. I have to go to work this Saturday because last Friday some wise political organization wanted to protest the hike in fuel prices and called a bandh. These apparent "wise men" actually thought there would be no rise in prices of fuel despite the fact that internationally the prices had doubled over the last 12 months.

The fact is, these protests, demonstrations and Bandh's call them what you want; have become nothing but a public inconvenience to common people i.e people who are not politicians. The only way we can ensure these people are punished is by ensuring they do not get to positions of power. The only way that can happen is if people like you and me exercise our right to vote and vote for the right people.