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The Savagery called Hartal

Violence on a road in Kannur this morning
Image courtesy Malayala Manorama


The shutdown called hartal is not unfamiliar to Kerala. The state witnessed about two hartals per week in the past year in one part or another. The BJP and its allies are the usual advocates of hartal though the two major political parties in the state also employ it as it suits them.


The hartals called by the right wing tend to be more savage than others. The right wing in India, like its counterparts elsewhere in the world, is fiercely savage though its foundations are laid in religion. Should I say because instead of though? Religion, after all, has always been savage, hasn’t it? Its benignity is only a thin veneer meant to conceal the behemoth lying beneath.

The present state of affairs in Kerala is a tragic creation of the BJP and its allies. There was a time when Kerala was a cauldron of religious perversions so much so that Swami Vivekananda described the state as a “lunatic asylum”. But the latter half of the 20th century saw the state making rapid progress on the highway of secular enlightenment. The state was even highlighted as a model of development by the United Nations. Hindus, Muslims and Christians lived together in harmony pursuing sound education, enjoying good health, and seeking jobs abroad.

After the BJP came to power in the Centre, the communal atmosphere in Kerala began to be vitiated. Apparently the only thing that the BJP does successfully is to vitiate the communal atmosphere wherever it makes its appearance. I had hoped that they wouldn’t succeed in their enterprise in Kerala, a state of educated and pragmatic people. But religion is such a perversion that it can corrode even the steeliest of hearts. Kerala seems to be succumbing to the perversions of the right wing in the rest of the country.

Yet another hartal is going on today in the state. I sit at home feeling utterly bored, bored of the inanity and insanity that has gripped my people, unable to go to my workplace and do the job I love. I watched the news for quite some time and saw how the right wing people have let loose the demon of hatred and violence on the roads of the state.

When the Supreme Court passed the verdict in favour of women entering the Sabarimala Temple against the traditions of the place, the BJP supremo Amit Shah asked the right wing hooligans in the state to create social unrest so that the issue could be exploited politically in the coming Lok Sabha elections. Shah and Modi have employed that strategy time and again with remarkable success in many states. But I had nurtured a proud dream that the people of Kerala were too sensible to fall for that strategy. Alas, my dream dies today. Hooligans are no different even in God’s own country!


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Comments

  1. None to be knownJanuary 3, 2019 at 9:58 AM

    It's mainly because there is a few bhakths who is always with the party in power. Once they rose into power the number of followers increases. It's all clear agenda of BJP to capture kerala. And religion is too sensitive for people anywhere. There wasn't any such issues in kerala and now they deliberately made it. I say people should investigate the tips of the iceberg and reveal the mountain beneath it. And all these third rate political leaders and their goons should be prosecuted. If this situation prevails there will be a time when people get to the streets with swords and control the law themselves

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJanuary 3, 2019 at 10:02 AM

      See what happened even when the Traders Union decided to boycott the hartal. They were helpless. Ultimately the political goons have their way. This is tragic. This should change. The goons should be kicked in their arse by the people. But those who wish to kick are the helpless ones, aren't they?

      Delete
  2. Abhijit RayJanuary 3, 2019 at 6:43 PM

    It is unlikely BJP will be able to capture Kerala in near future. At the same time, I think despite Supreme Court order, there is a difference between entry to Sabarimala and any other place. Hindu temples are not places of picnic that each and every person has to visit the deity, more so if you are not a devotee. Besides, there is no ban on devotees entering Ayappa temple other than the one at Sabarimala. At Sabarimala the deity is in a form that forbids women in reproductive age to visit. Many may claim this is pure nonsense but those who follow the lord faithfully may want to follow their tradition. More so, when government does not pay money for upkeep of temples, do they have right to enforce visitors who do not believe in tradition?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJanuary 3, 2019 at 7:26 PM

      Does the BJP care for all that? They just wanted an issue and Sabarimala gave it to them on a platter.

      Traditions have been overthrown in Kerala many times happily.

      Delete
  3. Rajeev MoothedathJanuary 6, 2019 at 1:14 PM

    In a way the Kerala Government played into the hands of the vested interests by trying too hard and too fast to implement the supreme court verdict (Such swiftness were not observed when interests of the left or their leaders were affected by judicial verdicts). The right wing got an opportunity to project themselves and unleash violence.

    In any case, most of the people who have views that are not in line with the supreme court verdict are unlikely to vote BJP whose designs are so obvious!

    I feel that it is premature to give up on your proud dream "that the people of Kerala were too sensible to fall for that strategy.

    Politicians play games and the poor common man falls a prey to death and violence...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJanuary 6, 2019 at 2:38 PM

      Pinaray seems to be a bit too keen to implement the leftist agenda in the state just as Modi is implementing the right agenda wherever he can.

      I hope the people of Kerala will exercise their reason and good sense while voting.

      Delete

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