Hartal is a means of protest which was widely used by Gandhiji during the days when our homeland was fighting for freedom. The idea was to protest on various occasions without resorting to violence. Gandhiji used it as a positive tool to express dissent. However, Hartals have changed its colour since then. Hartals have transformed from a tool of non violence in the past, to an event synonymous to violence today. On a hartal day , the common public are being forced to sit at home .Some hartals are declared all of a sudden. This leaves the public in deep trouble. There might be tourists visiting our state on that day or there might be some unfortunate lot who were unlucky to land here on the day of a hartal. Our motherland which is to be known for all its cultural greatness, should not be a talking point for a negative aspect.
Apart from this , the loss that every hartal causes is immense. It does not allow many to go to work, many companies would remain closed and if there are any damage to properties, they would add on to the list.It is said that a single day of hartal causes a loss of about 650 crores . However the impact of hartals seem to be more significant in some states, ours being one of them. Our state withnessed a couple of back to back hartals recently protesting on the fuel price hike,while the majority of the nation had only one.
Hartals are very frequent in our state,but how many of them yield results ? It is high time that the people's representatives to come up with an effective,peacefull method to sort out issues rather than resorting to hartals or strikes. Even if they chose to conduct hartals, compelling the public to participate can be avoided. Creating a sense of awareness among the public can be done to ensure maximum public support.
We the keralites are supposed to be among the top in terms of literacy. We must ponder over the matter and respond to it,sooner than later.
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