Indian Politics : Significance of Bandhs
‘Bandh’ (meaning strike) is not an English word. Indian politicians and common men use this Hindi word. Bandh is called off by general political parties and some social organizations to protest or support against something. There are reasons for why should we support the bandh and why should we not.
Why Shouldn’t we support the Bandh:-
1.First of all, our life is becoming faster. Every day is full of actions and work for us, our families and our companies. When a strike is held throughout the regions of a city, the people stay at their homes. They can not go out of their houses due to fear of political harassments. I can remember, when West Bengal’s Chief Minister’s wife’s car was stopped by bandh supporters who was going somewhere that day. Many ill people can not be taken to hospitals due to unwanted bandhs / strikes and unavailability of doctors.
2.Transportation becomes a main issue during the strikes. There are less number of buses, trains, autos , taxis and personal cars during bandhs. So, the dynamic city life becomes a standstill. Many people who do ‘field jobs’ can not travel much due to occurrence of bandhs. Examinees and examiners can not reach to the examination hall due their individual fear factor and lack of transportation.
3.There are huge loss of monetary dealings during the bandh days. Many companies works stop completely and they loose lakhs of Rupees in one days. Some major managerial meetings get postponed due to bandh.
Why Shouldn’t we support the Bandh:-
1.If bandhs are carried on a peaceful way by some honest leaders then bandhs can be successful without damaging the city life. In that case only bandhs supporters won’t go to work and rest all people will go to work. So, the ordinary lives of people won’t be affected due to bandh. If bandhs are called off with a great national or social reason, then people will automatically support it. There will be no need to force them by bandh supporters.
2.In Indian politics bandhs or strikes have a great importance. Bandh is a way to assess the presence of a political party in any country. Ask Indian political leaders like, L K Advani, Arun Jetley, Prakash Karat, Somnath Chatterjee, Sonia Gandhi, Pranab Mukherjee, Mamata Banerjee, Jyoti Basu, Biman Basu, etc. and they will all give their opinions in favour of the bandhs. Actually bandhs are nothing but a political tool to organize party members for an important issue to claim the right of something. Not affecting the public life and not increasing the miseries of people, bandhs can be effectively conducted.
