Joseph Lewis D’Silva
A ‘bandh’ is a regularly irregular event in the lives of Indians of all creeds and classes. It is a part and parcel of Indian politics. It is a deliberate demonstration at planned places by a group of agitators who squat on the pavement and simply fast or have a procession chanting “Zindabad” and “Murdabad” through highways and byways.
Its purpose is to open the eyes and ears of those in power to get their demands satisfied immediately. People have the right to protest and employ means that attract attention and support for their action.
There could be several reasons for people to stage demonstration, like for example:- strikes arise out of economic grievances to increase wages or security of workers from losing their jobs; unfair labour practice improve hours of work; lawlessness in the country when brute force comes out with iron bars and broken bottles to settle scores or to rob and rape; and when, due to inefficient, innocent police, who with their faulty ways of investigation, let ‘goondas’ slip away to freedom; and especially when the government drags its feet and fails to meet its promises; when the greed of our representative turns limitless; when politicians promise people heaven, but they take them to hell; when leaders promise development and bring about their self-development; when officials promise freedom and enslave the voters.
There are different types of protests: Peaceful strikes, consists of ‘starvation strikes’, mute-march or roaring rally with banners. Forced ‘bandhs’ are to be condemned as they restrict the movement of common man; they force and threaten business establishments to down their shutters. So, it inconveniences innocent office-goers, exam-bound students and the sick heading to hospitals; due to fear of the organisers there are no buses, no taxis and no autos. In “Dadagiri bandhs”, many peace-loving citizens, inspired by ‘goondas’, hold ‘dandas’ and turn into bloodthirsty animals; they flare up and flame up like matchsticks when struck against matchboxes; even friends turn into lifelong enemies. They start flinging stones at running vehicles to stop them from plying on the road; they cut down the trees that dance in the breeze in order to block roads; they burn tyres and entangle wires to create fear psychosis of approaching destruction of public property and thus have a carnival of fun for the participants. If any one comes across such ‘bandhs’ one may miss one’s train or plane, or panic about losing one’s appointment at the doctor’s clinic.
While concluding, I must say that ‘bandh’ is an institution worth preserving – if ‘bandhs’ are not an infringement of the fundamental right of the citizen to move freely and carry out one’s occupation; and provided, the ‘bandh’ is not a distortion of Gandhiji’s idea of satyagraha. For Gandhiji, a satyagrahi had to be a “disciplined soldier of non-violence, and one who had rendered a willing and respectful obedience to the state laws.” Freedom to fearlessly fight against all social ills is the only guarantee of a true democracy but, unfortunately, modern ‘bandhs’ are like fighting the truth with the weapon of error. Peaceful Goa is not the same as it used to be earlier. The situation has turned bad with violent ‘bandhs’.
