The Politics of Hartal

It has been very long since I decided to blog regularly. And I regularly ignored my instincts to write. May be, this time I feel it very important to respond to my social sorroundings. Today, on a 'Keralappiravi' day, the Bharathiya Janatha Party and its supporters have curtailed the freedom given to me by the Constitution of India. I'm hurt, I'm insulted and at any (affordable) cost, I feel it important to respond. As per natural justice, I deserve the right to an inevitable revenge.

Many a times my friends have adviced me saying, "you must join politics". Undoubtedly, they all 'work' for different political parties. I simply do not understand the meaning of this statement. Why should I join politics when i'm already in it? Is it necessary that I should hold a political party ticket given by these so called leaders? By politics, I mean the right and duty to respond to political/social issues. As a responsible citizen, I do it, and I enjoy it as well.

I'm proud that Malayalees over the globe have good political sense and are sensitive to any social issue. It is a good symptom. Most of us, atleast morally, support one political party. We look into details, we analyse and conclude. We have a unique and confident opinion on any social issue. Yes, we are great. But how many of us seriously think of the impact of a state of being over political?

As an individual, as different from a political party, i have my own concerns. I believe that I'm a free human being. In last couple of weeks, Keralam witnessed 4 Hartals. Each one called on by different parties, on different issuues. One of them was called on by the ruling party. Is it right on the part of these parties to deny my freedom? For each Hartal, how many offices/institutes/business concerns compromise. How many manpowers are being wasted. By holding a bundh, we force ourselves to back off a day in terms of progress. Is it called revolution, or is it that progressive steps that our parties claim to have been taking?

For the political values that we, the people of Kerala hold, it is important to have a mass movment against this issue irrespective of the flag colour. We, the unprofessional politicians should boldly say NO to the parties who call for Hartals. What is being infringed is our right. What is curtailed is our freedom. There are no parties or groups on this earth to tell us "You shouldn't do this". We should develop a spirit to say, "I will". Let's hope and work for a better situation.