Political Activist, Blogger, Advisor to start-ups, Seed investor. One time VC and ex-Diplomat. Failed mushroom farmer; ex Radio Jockey. Currently involved in Reclaiming India - One Step at a Time.
Bharath bandh …. is totally unjustified, opposition parties takign India backwards just to score a political brownie point.
Let us face it the issue of increase in petrol prices are the key to the hike in other goods….As for the petrol prices i am all for maintaining parity based on the global market.
But the govt needs to think about controlling the inflation. More importantly it is time the govt needs to look at its agricultural policy and make the country self sufficient. I guess it is time MM Singh replaces Sharad Pawar with a minister who has time from all the cricket to devote time to his ministry…
Disruption of daily life of any kind should be banned. Bandhs/ hartals as a means of protest have outlived their utility and the general public have begun to perceive them as a means of harassment to the general public. Why not resort to Peaceful dharna in front of all M.Ps., M.L.As., and in front of Parliament too to bring into focus the public grievances without any disruption to the daily life of citizens.
Price rise has become unbearable and the insensitive U.P.A.ruling, rather ruining our country, won’t do anything whether we observe a hartal, bandh or anything for that matter. Many of the daily necessities have seen more than a hundred per cent increase in prices during the last one year.
The member parties of U.P.A. too have resorted to hartal/bandh time and again and they cannot now blame the opposition parties. People like me who can never support any hartal/bandh by any party tend to support any kind of protest due to the unbearable runaway inflation of daily necessities.
awaited one.. was surpised on your silence about this.. the bandh as well as price rise/price hike (no other article on your blog about that! or, the search engine is not good)
debates with people caused me to do research on theis, and the statistics are surprisingly in the government’s favour mostly..
btw, incase somebody doesnt know, WPI can be checked online here -> http://eaindustry.nic.in/ price rise..
(frankly, fuel price rise.. i am fine with it because, anyways we need to cut fossil fuels asap due to the TERRIBLE impact on the environment.. and hence that is not my point of discussion)
about price rise in general,
1) i browsed through 5 or 6 of the questions mentioned by mr. s sudhir kumar, the ministers have easily rejected the cla
2) i could not find any statistical proof to show that we are having an unusual price rise, barring say, the case of vegetables..
actually every single aspect here is so very complex that, mentioning any of them that i wanted to here, would have been incomplete..
and i do agree that at least to some degree there is a deeper clever game going on in the finances of the country..
While I do not wholly endorse any activity that inhibits normal day to day life, Bharath Bandh was an inevitable outcome of an arrogance dared by the UPA Government with its frivolous economic policies imposed upon the common poor man. People should bear in mind that the inconvenience ushered upon them for just 12 hours was to remind them of the imposition of huge cost of living and other sundry expenses UPA Government has been nailing them with over the past 6 years. Inflation, essential goods price hikes and fuel price hikes are all empowering the political and economically prevailing class of the society who neither have to know nor bear the brunt of what is the price of say 1Kg Rice, 1Kg Tomato, 1Kg Dhal, etc.etc. Common public has to stop for a moment and think what has been their plight over the last six years in comparison to what they earn a month. Has their daily, weekly or monthly income doubled to counter this huge hike? Has there been an initiative on the UPA Government’s part to even remotely look into possibilities assisting the poor? So called self styled intellectuals go ballistic about why don’t the Opposition then raise this issue in Parliament than call a Bandh! Public should understand that during the last one year more than 20 Q&A sessions were held in Parliament on the rising price and inflation – but in vain. With numbers favoring them, the UPA were audacious and biggety in responding to the Q&A. And now, subsequent to the Bharath Bandh, UPA is lamenting about sporadic violence that occurred rather than the cause itself!
If our politicians are so serious and concerned about common man, they should stage fast unto death at parliament or whichever place they like. This way they will gain sympathy of the common man.
Have documented the questions asked in LS on Price Rise (compiled by Sudhir Kudva) and have also provided link for the texts of 12 debates that happened over the last one year on Price rise here:
Coming to the vote, I voted “not sure”. Bharat Bandh call was not a knee jerk reaction. This government has consistently failed to heed to suggestions and even last night, ruling party spokespersons were taking umbrage under the fact that there is a “global problem”!
That said, wilful disruption of transport services and violent acts like damaging public properties surely take the focus away from why the bandh actually had to be called for. This call was a last resort, and party cadre in many states took part. These sporadic acts of violence were undesirable.
The comments on || Satyameva Jayate || page on Facebook appear to be overwhelmingly against the Bandh while the poll here is showing close to 40% supporting the Bandh…Could it have something to do with differing demographics, I wonder?
Thanks to everyone for sharing your thoughts…I will respond in detail tomorrow but at the moment feel torn between hte various choices.
Whoever i know, was against the bandh, even those who acknowledged the price rise, most of them were against the bandh, and also generally pro-bjp friends were also against the bandh.
Talking about people i encountered, and from the discussion on my profile.
I too was against the means of protest (The bandh).
Yes..Internet Hindus are good in explaining the issues on the net but the common man does not use the Facebook and also does not use Skype , Twitter,
Facts are that 70% country lives in Villages and they are mad as hell.
I guess, most of us don’t like bandhs…but the people who have polled in favour of it did so because to them the bandh acted as a (very limited) means to show their discontent with the UPA govt – even at the cost of economic loss…people are frustrated as the govt has become damn SHAMELESSLY insensitive…congress doesn’t care what people think of this party as they have taken it for granted that they cant be removed from power ever!
We justifiably abhor the destructive side of a bandh: the burning of buses and trains, damage to public property, harassment to people, the losses to business.
But what we do not see is that the actual people who protest in our democracy — the political workers — l…argely come from backgrounds in which trains and buses and the mighty GDP don’t really matter.
They come from slums where the word ‘amenity’ does not feature in conversations in the long queues for water.
So, before people screw up their virtual noses on Twitter, Facebook and a hundred online forums and deride the crass, lowly bandhs and talk about alternative forms of democratic protest, they should ask themselves how many times have they participated in even the fancier forms of protest.
How many times have they stood up against injustice in the real world?
Evolved forms of protest like picketing, black badges, hyper-production, radical cheerleading and protest rides on cycles and bikes happen when an educated, evolved population participate.
In India, that class is sterile, silent. Largely caught up in sucking up to bosses and ducking their spouses, and vice versa.
…As long as the middle-class don’t demonstrate other hallowed forms of protest they keep ranting about, they should shut up and keep out of harm’s way when others are putting that very bad word — bandh — into action
No one, including the parties that called for a Bandh, would want their own people face inconvenience. But then, did this slumbering, arrogant & impotent govt leave them with an option?
Let me remind all that–
â— BJP has been suggesting alternatives to the UPA on the very floor of the House to change its policies & improve the economy http://www.bjp.org/content/view/2941/394/
But this was ignored by the Govt even in the Budget Session.
â— BJP had organised a massive yet “peaceful” rally in Delhi on the 21st of May to take up the Price Rise issue seriously. But thanks to our sickening media, the mega-event wasn’t covered well.
â— BJP State & City units have so far organised innumerable local & state protests to corner the Govt.
BUT, even after taking all these measures, if the Govt’s is not responding & is least-bothered about the Aam Aadmi, the Opposition is compelled to call for a Nationwide Bandh! They did it, and rightly so!
People active on Online Forums might be well-to-do & not facing the brunt of Price Rise as much as the poor & BPL families are. And that’s why, they didn’t support it. But, the Bandh got an overwhelming & spontaneous response from the sections for whom the Price Rise really matters.
“As long as the middle-class don’t demonstrate other hallowed forms of protest they keep ranting about, they should shut up and keep out of harm’s way when others are putting that very bad word — bandh — into action”
primarily the issue of protest is under debate..
secondly, who feels there is a big genuine issue they should protest..
the job of proponents is to convince those people..
the particular logic in ‘when they dont participate in protest they should give in to bandhs’ is flawed..
while they should not disallow others to protest, neither should others disallow them to continue the way they want to..
the bandh is against the fundamental bases of democracy in the first place..
another point,
when the author is referring to the poor people protesting, the rise in fuel prices in fact doesnt affect so much the people who commute in public transport, and have their basic necessities covered under unchanged subsidised prices..
infact, it affects more the people, who travel in two wheelers, four wheelers, and buy foodgrains, etc. from the market..
this places a question on the motive of protest of the people whom the author is referring,
truth be told, the driving force behind their protest is not that they have got really oppressed by the hike, but infact that they are remunerated for their job by the political parties.. or else the other class of people who are passively involved due to the sweeping charged speeches and statements made by the political leaders of the opposition, they are not people who self research..
so, its not a “common man protest” or “protest out of problems faced” as the author projects..
why then are the opposition parties disrupting life, hurting public sentiments, and in fact, inviting public angst on themselcves, which should in fact be on the government in the case that they are at fault..
I continue to have mixed views on this but on balance, I would support the Bandh..Yes the economy did suffer and certainly some of the poorest must have suffered the most…
But their suffering during the day of Bandh was nothing compared to the suffering that they have been through for the past few months, or the last couple of years…
This was not merely about scoring political points…the Bandh was a a very *real* demonstration of the depth of public anger on this issue…
At the core of inflationary pressures is the oil price hike…but it would be simplistic to limit the discussion on inflation to removal of subsidy(-ies) alone. The subsidies themselves were a result of deeply flawed policies…their abrupt removal appeared to be a knee-jerk reaction.
That said, I have some sympathy for the lost man-hours and productivity and I would therefore have preferred local protests and marhces after 7pm (to limt the damage to the economy) and wider use of mass media with documetation of real-life stories of those who are suffering the most.
“the economy did suffer and certainly some of the poorest must have suffered the most… But their suffering during the day of Bandh was nothing compared to the suffering that they have been through for the past few months, or the last couple of years…”
this equation can be taken if bandh is a sureshot path to elimination of price rise..
the bandh in fact shifted attention away from price rise..
well done documentation would have got the right people, and the right leaders to support the protest,
then whatever form of protest, even a bandh, if voluntary , would have made a huge difference, even if of one-third the scale..
the government cares for their votes, cares for real people agitation,
how is it projected to the government that the people are angry about the price rise, when it is enforced participation,
plus, many more people are angry about the bandh, than, angry about the issue..
so even the question of the government tackling price rise due to their selfish political motive, gets off..
the government was super-focussed on tackling the bandh, which was the real people’s demand..
and, they actually were able to do a lot in mumbai, just one rail-roko at a place out of the SEVERAL planned, rest, the trains were completely functional, trains being the heart of transport in mumbai..
Bandh was a success….yes but did we achieve anything out of it? Did the Govt shake? What next? More bandhs till the prices come down? Bandh was probably the last resort to voice out the frustration on behalf of aam aadmi or for political gain….whatever! Even the so called inconvenience caused for a day is justified! But what is the public’s reaction to it? Except for the so called party workers, sympathisers, it was a holiday for most of the folks! My neighbor asked my mother why all the shops were closed!
Can people come out and protest? Can they say we refuse to pay taxes till the prices come down? Can they demand better facilities for the prices they are paying eg; rail and bus services? Can they demand safety? Can they demand unlimited power and water supply? Unless the citizens do not think that this price hike or any other problem is a major issue that concerns them, all bandhs are useless and a waste of time!
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Bharath bandh …. is totally unjustified, opposition parties takign India backwards just to score a political brownie point.
Let us face it the issue of increase in petrol prices are the key to the hike in other goods….As for the petrol prices i am all for maintaining parity based on the global market.
But the govt needs to think about controlling the inflation. More importantly it is time the govt needs to look at its agricultural policy and make the country self sufficient. I guess it is time MM Singh replaces Sharad Pawar with a minister who has time from all the cricket to devote time to his ministry…
Sudhir Kudva has a list of questions asked on price rise by various MPs on his timeline (Hat Tip: CenterofRight).
S Sudhir Kumar is likely to put them up on his blog for ease of reference.
Disruption of daily life of any kind should be banned. Bandhs/ hartals as a means of protest have outlived their utility and the general public have begun to perceive them as a means of harassment to the general public. Why not resort to Peaceful dharna in front of all M.Ps., M.L.As., and in front of Parliament too to bring into focus the public grievances without any disruption to the daily life of citizens.
Price rise has become unbearable and the insensitive U.P.A.ruling, rather ruining our country, won’t do anything whether we observe a hartal, bandh or anything for that matter. Many of the daily necessities have seen more than a hundred per cent increase in prices during the last one year.
The member parties of U.P.A. too have resorted to hartal/bandh time and again and they cannot now blame the opposition parties. People like me who can never support any hartal/bandh by any party tend to support any kind of protest due to the unbearable runaway inflation of daily necessities.
awaited one.. was surpised on your silence about this.. the bandh as well as price rise/price hike (no other article on your blog about that! or, the search engine is not good)
debates with people caused me to do research on theis, and the statistics are surprisingly in the government’s favour mostly..
btw, incase somebody doesnt know, WPI can be checked online here -> http://eaindustry.nic.in/ price rise..
(frankly, fuel price rise.. i am fine with it because, anyways we need to cut fossil fuels asap due to the TERRIBLE impact on the environment.. and hence that is not my point of discussion)
about price rise in general,
1) i browsed through 5 or 6 of the questions mentioned by mr. s sudhir kumar, the ministers have easily rejected the cla
2) i could not find any statistical proof to show that we are having an unusual price rise, barring say, the case of vegetables..
actually every single aspect here is so very complex that, mentioning any of them that i wanted to here, would have been incomplete..
and i do agree that at least to some degree there is a deeper clever game going on in the finances of the country..
While I do not wholly endorse any activity that inhibits normal day to day life, Bharath Bandh was an inevitable outcome of an arrogance dared by the UPA Government with its frivolous economic policies imposed upon the common poor man. People should bear in mind that the inconvenience ushered upon them for just 12 hours was to remind them of the imposition of huge cost of living and other sundry expenses UPA Government has been nailing them with over the past 6 years. Inflation, essential goods price hikes and fuel price hikes are all empowering the political and economically prevailing class of the society who neither have to know nor bear the brunt of what is the price of say 1Kg Rice, 1Kg Tomato, 1Kg Dhal, etc.etc. Common public has to stop for a moment and think what has been their plight over the last six years in comparison to what they earn a month. Has their daily, weekly or monthly income doubled to counter this huge hike? Has there been an initiative on the UPA Government’s part to even remotely look into possibilities assisting the poor? So called self styled intellectuals go ballistic about why don’t the Opposition then raise this issue in Parliament than call a Bandh! Public should understand that during the last one year more than 20 Q&A sessions were held in Parliament on the rising price and inflation – but in vain. With numbers favoring them, the UPA were audacious and biggety in responding to the Q&A. And now, subsequent to the Bharath Bandh, UPA is lamenting about sporadic violence that occurred rather than the cause itself!
Thanks to Sanjay for this link:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/sa-aiyar/swaminomics/Case-against-cutting-oil-price/articleshow/3613543.cms
The last point there,
increased food subsidies would be better to concentrate on..
building a cushion is also very right..
nice to see this..
If our politicians are so serious and concerned about common man, they should stage fast unto death at parliament or whichever place they like. This way they will gain sympathy of the common man.
Have documented the questions asked in LS on Price Rise (compiled by Sudhir Kudva) and have also provided link for the texts of 12 debates that happened over the last one year on Price rise here:
http://serious–fun.blogspot.com/2010/07/dear-suhel-seth.html
Coming to the vote, I voted “not sure”. Bharat Bandh call was not a knee jerk reaction. This government has consistently failed to heed to suggestions and even last night, ruling party spokespersons were taking umbrage under the fact that there is a “global problem”!
That said, wilful disruption of transport services and violent acts like damaging public properties surely take the focus away from why the bandh actually had to be called for. This call was a last resort, and party cadre in many states took part. These sporadic acts of violence were undesirable.
– Sudhir
Tell me what is the most effective way to protest to unaccountable government in democractic setup. And look at this weblink http://devinder-sharma.blogspot.com/2010/07/bandh-or-naxals-democracy-or-maoism.html
Quick observation…
The comments on || Satyameva Jayate || page on Facebook appear to be overwhelmingly against the Bandh while the poll here is showing close to 40% supporting the Bandh…Could it have something to do with differing demographics, I wonder?
Thanks to everyone for sharing your thoughts…I will respond in detail tomorrow but at the moment feel torn between hte various choices.
Whoever i know, was against the bandh, even those who acknowledged the price rise, most of them were against the bandh, and also generally pro-bjp friends were also against the bandh.
Talking about people i encountered, and from the discussion on my profile.
I too was against the means of protest (The bandh).
Yes..Internet Hindus are good in explaining the issues on the net but the common man does not use the Facebook and also does not use Skype , Twitter,
Facts are that 70% country lives in Villages and they are mad as hell.
I guess, most of us don’t like bandhs…but the people who have polled in favour of it did so because to them the bandh acted as a (very limited) means to show their discontent with the UPA govt – even at the cost of economic loss…people are frustrated as the govt has become damn SHAMELESSLY insensitive…congress doesn’t care what people think of this party as they have taken it for granted that they cant be removed from power ever!
Reading Abhijit Majumder: “The Snobbery over Bandhs“.
No one, including the parties that called for a Bandh, would want their own people face inconvenience. But then, did this slumbering, arrogant & impotent govt leave them with an option?
Let me remind all that–
â— BJP has been suggesting alternatives to the UPA on the very floor of the House to change its policies & improve the economy
http://www.bjp.org/content/view/2941/394/
But this was ignored by the Govt even in the Budget Session.
â— BJP had organised a massive yet “peaceful” rally in Delhi on the 21st of May to take up the Price Rise issue seriously. But thanks to our sickening media, the mega-event wasn’t covered well.
â— BJP State & City units have so far organised innumerable local & state protests to corner the Govt.
BUT, even after taking all these measures, if the Govt’s is not responding & is least-bothered about the Aam Aadmi, the Opposition is compelled to call for a Nationwide Bandh! They did it, and rightly so!
People active on Online Forums might be well-to-do & not facing the brunt of Price Rise as much as the poor & BPL families are. And that’s why, they didn’t support it. But, the Bandh got an overwhelming & spontaneous response from the sections for whom the Price Rise really matters.
Bharat Bandh was a resounding success!
In response to the article by Mr. Majumder,
“As long as the middle-class don’t demonstrate other hallowed forms of protest they keep ranting about, they should shut up and keep out of harm’s way when others are putting that very bad word — bandh — into action”
primarily the issue of protest is under debate..
secondly, who feels there is a big genuine issue they should protest..
the job of proponents is to convince those people..
the particular logic in ‘when they dont participate in protest they should give in to bandhs’ is flawed..
while they should not disallow others to protest, neither should others disallow them to continue the way they want to..
the bandh is against the fundamental bases of democracy in the first place..
another point,
when the author is referring to the poor people protesting, the rise in fuel prices in fact doesnt affect so much the people who commute in public transport, and have their basic necessities covered under unchanged subsidised prices..
infact, it affects more the people, who travel in two wheelers, four wheelers, and buy foodgrains, etc. from the market..
this places a question on the motive of protest of the people whom the author is referring,
truth be told, the driving force behind their protest is not that they have got really oppressed by the hike, but infact that they are remunerated for their job by the political parties.. or else the other class of people who are passively involved due to the sweeping charged speeches and statements made by the political leaders of the opposition, they are not people who self research..
so, its not a “common man protest” or “protest out of problems faced” as the author projects..
why then are the opposition parties disrupting life, hurting public sentiments, and in fact, inviting public angst on themselcves, which should in fact be on the government in the case that they are at fault..
All: Thanks for a great discussion…
I continue to have mixed views on this but on balance, I would support the Bandh..Yes the economy did suffer and certainly some of the poorest must have suffered the most…
But their suffering during the day of Bandh was nothing compared to the suffering that they have been through for the past few months, or the last couple of years…
This was not merely about scoring political points…the Bandh was a a very *real* demonstration of the depth of public anger on this issue…
At the core of inflationary pressures is the oil price hike…but it would be simplistic to limit the discussion on inflation to removal of subsidy(-ies) alone. The subsidies themselves were a result of deeply flawed policies…their abrupt removal appeared to be a knee-jerk reaction.
That said, I have some sympathy for the lost man-hours and productivity and I would therefore have preferred local protests and marhces after 7pm (to limt the damage to the economy) and wider use of mass media with documetation of real-life stories of those who are suffering the most.
“the economy did suffer and certainly some of the poorest must have suffered the most… But their suffering during the day of Bandh was nothing compared to the suffering that they have been through for the past few months, or the last couple of years…”
this equation can be taken if bandh is a sureshot path to elimination of price rise..
the bandh in fact shifted attention away from price rise..
well done documentation would have got the right people, and the right leaders to support the protest,
then whatever form of protest, even a bandh, if voluntary , would have made a huge difference, even if of one-third the scale..
the government cares for their votes, cares for real people agitation,
how is it projected to the government that the people are angry about the price rise, when it is enforced participation,
plus, many more people are angry about the bandh, than, angry about the issue..
so even the question of the government tackling price rise due to their selfish political motive, gets off..
the government was super-focussed on tackling the bandh, which was the real people’s demand..
and, they actually were able to do a lot in mumbai, just one rail-roko at a place out of the SEVERAL planned, rest, the trains were completely functional, trains being the heart of transport in mumbai..
*** Below are some of the responses mentioned as “Other” in the poll above: “Was Bharat Bandh good for India?” ***
1] There is no space for exercise of democratic expression of dissent
2] A peaceful Bandh is OK, this wasnt like all other Bandhs in India
3] Its like I feel both the first and third option…
4] BJP should have temp reduced taxes for a day
5] This could have avoided. Government stand was not defiable.
6] Band 4 Food prizes is good, but not 4 Ptrl/gas. It’d B hiked, 2make ppl aware
*** UPDATED ***
Some of the responses mentioned as “Other” in the “Preferred Strategy” poll above:
by asking people to wear black bands,and by raising black flags on the houses.
Multiple things in the following sequence of steps, 4,5,6,3,2 (voluntary strike)
have a mass assemble at darna chowks so that the dont disrupt public convenience
Peaceful Dharna in front of the residences of M.Ps., M.L.As., and Parliament
***
Each poll has attracted about 100 votes so far. Thanks to everyone who participated…Pl share with your friends and acquaintances. Thank you.
Bandh was a success….yes but did we achieve anything out of it? Did the Govt shake? What next? More bandhs till the prices come down? Bandh was probably the last resort to voice out the frustration on behalf of aam aadmi or for political gain….whatever! Even the so called inconvenience caused for a day is justified! But what is the public’s reaction to it? Except for the so called party workers, sympathisers, it was a holiday for most of the folks! My neighbor asked my mother why all the shops were closed!
Can people come out and protest? Can they say we refuse to pay taxes till the prices come down? Can they demand better facilities for the prices they are paying eg; rail and bus services? Can they demand safety? Can they demand unlimited power and water supply? Unless the citizens do not think that this price hike or any other problem is a major issue that concerns them, all bandhs are useless and a waste of time!
An unusual way to protest: Soon after Mr. (Amit) Shah was lodged in jail, BJP workers took out a “silent rally†in Ahmedabad in protest.