Ram:
>When was the last time you or anyone else heard of a total
Maharastra bandh or >a Karnataka bandh?
Take a look below.
And I hope you won't suggest to us that these are rare isolated
phenomena.
c-da
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20040113/edit.htm
THE Bombay High Court's direction to the Maharashtra government
to file an affidavit by February 4 in response to a bunch of petitions
asking the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party to pay Rs 50 crore
for losses suffered by citizens due to the bandh organised by them in
Mumbai in July last year is significant. The petitioners are men of
high stature and public standing. They include former Union Cabinet
Secretary B.G. Deshmukh and former Mumbai Police Commissioner Julio
Ribeiro. In their petitions, they not only called for the arrest of
the political leaders responsible for calling the bandh but also urged
the court to direct the two political parties to create a fund named
"Bandh Damage Fund" with a corpus of Rs 50 crore to be disbursed to
the claimants who suffered losses.
It is debatable whether the idea of creating a "Bandh Damage
Fund" is ideal, but there is no denying the fact that almost all
political parties have been organising bandhs at the drop of a hat
with little concern for public safety and the hardship these would
cause to the people. Worse, mischievous elements enter the scene,
indulge in arson and looting, and give a bad name to the parties. Far
more disturbing are state-sponsored bandhs directly or indirectly. In
Kerala and West Bengal, political parties and trade unions organise
bandhs now and then and take people for a ride. The competition
between the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments in organising bandhs
on the Cauvery issue is well known.
It remains to be seen how the Bombay High Court will deal with the petitions. But keeping in view the propensity of political parties to organise bandhs for gaining political mileage, there is a need to check their conduct and make them accountable for the losses caused in the process. The responsibility is even greater if the state government itself sponsors a bandh. How can the protector become the offender? In November 1997, the Supreme Court had upheld a Full Bench judgement of the Kerala High Court that declared the calling of a bandh by any association, organisation or political party as illegal and unconstitutional. The apex court's ruling is crystal-clear on the issue.
It remains to be seen how the Bombay High Court will deal with the petitions. But keeping in view the propensity of political parties to organise bandhs for gaining political mileage, there is a need to check their conduct and make them accountable for the losses caused in the process. The responsibility is even greater if the state government itself sponsors a bandh. How can the protector become the offender? In November 1997, the Supreme Court had upheld a Full Bench judgement of the Kerala High Court that declared the calling of a bandh by any association, organisation or political party as illegal and unconstitutional. The apex court's ruling is crystal-clear on the issue.
Also see:
http://in.rediff.com/news/2002/oct/17nad.htm
At 2:20 PM -0500 8/21/05, Ram Sarangapani wrote:
C'da
>**** How do you know that? What are the grounds for making that assertiuon or even assumption?
Because the newspapers themselves say that 'someone from xyz org. telephoned'. Then one obviously assume that either they don't really bother confirming such info or just cannot for some reason.
>Why should the media be held responsible to judge what 'bondho' is legitimate and deserving of >publicity, and what is not? Where do they get their authority or wisdom to judge that?
I did NOT say the media would have to make that judgement. But at the very least they should verify the info and then decide if the 'bandh notice' is newsworthy? The way the media prints each and every bandh notice, it must mean that the media considers them all newsworthy and also giving a lot of importance to such calls.
>opinions--but NOT to be the self appointed or Rajen/Ram appointed censors.
Don't they have their own standards to judge if publicity ought to be given to mundane calls for bandhs? Who says anything about censorship?
>**** Your recommendations would be useful if the 'bondho' givers made you the arv biter of what >deserves to be one Ram :-).
As is obvious, no bondho giver is asking my opinion, (and nor should they), but unfortunately, they are not asking the opinion of the intelligensia in Assam or the people either.
>**** That is a real good joke Ram :-), that Karnataka does not have 'bandhs', that it is merely a >unique Assamese disability.
Thanks, I did look up the item. The Judge was right. But reading from the item, it does seem that it was a particular, local case of strikes by film producers. The financial loss of Rs. 20 crores was a huge one, but the WHOLE state wasn't paralyzed in that one instance.
Yes, there are bandhs all over the country. Bad as they are, most are like strikes (banks, or mills).
Most such strikes in Mumbai, would close down an area or locality not the entire city.
But it is extremely rare where the whole of Maharastra or Karnataka is completely shut down today.
Unfortunately, closure of the whole state is the norm during bandhs in Assam. In addition to that, banks in Assam will also join All-India calls for bank closures, or some strike by say Indian airlines.
When was the last time you or anyone else heard of a total Maharastra bandh or a Karnataka bandh? And when was the last you heard that from Assam? Without going into the legitimacy of bandhs and strikes, you (and others) will find that Assam has captured that market by a long shot.
Once we have that nailed down, we could discuss whether or not such calls are justifiable or necessary.
--Ram
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