The 'Hartal' Culture

Let us look at some of the aspects of this 'culture'. Even when people agree with the grievances of opposition against the government, they don't agree with the burning of buses and destruction of property. And most of the time the poor people are affected and not the leaders (they are already too rich from questionable sources of money). As the opposition goes with its forced strike, the police (which very well serves the government) perform their own duties by clubbing the opposition demonstrators.

Now, we know that calling a strike is anyone's democratic right. At the same time, the right not to respond to the call must be ensured. Can the opposition say that it is just asking to observe the hartal and not forcing anyone to observe it? Everybody knows, in such a case, the call is bound to be a failure. People just don't go out during strike for fear of safety. After each strike, the government thanks people for not observing it and the opposition thanks are due to its observance! This is a clear hypocrisy both on the part of the government and the opposition. Not observing hartal (because there are some vehicles on the street) doesn't mean that people are with the government and are supporting its activities. And observing hartal (some streets are deserted and there are less activities) doesn't guarantee the opposition that people supported your forced strike.

I would like to request the opposition to rethink their strategy on agitation and the government to exercise some restraint (just clubbing opposition by police doesn't increase your popularity) for the sake of our people.