Ban the Bandh and Save the State Movement

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Ban the Bandh and Save the State

By: R.S. Mooshahary

The other day the Deputy Commissioner of a lower Assam district tells me that in his district the bandh call is not always for
a public issue but equally for internecine fights. If an organization calls and imposes a bandh, say, to press for ST status,
the parallel organization too will repeat it in the days following ostensibly for the same purpose but in reality to play
one-upmanship over its rival. He says there are 50 to 60 bandhs in a year in his district, which include road/ rail blockades,
chakka jams, picketing etc. This is an ugly political small pox erupting all over with unbound contagion. The 300-hour bandh
call from October 17 by some Koch- Rajbangshi group organizations demanding ST status is a symptom of this disease. The bandh
enthusiasts must know that it is a self-defeating strategy as a form of protest because the main issue is relegated to the
background and the bandh itself becomes the focal point because of the suffering it inflicts on the people. The much-hyped
Tamil Nadu bandh on October 1 is an example. People remember that on the Supreme Court�s direction that bandh had to be aborted
and that a contempt case is pending alleging violation of its order in the Supreme Court. People hardly remember the purpose
for which the bandh call was made. The Supreme Court�s decision in that connection on September 30 provides a ray of hope. It
is an instance of vox populi finding expression through judicial voice.

Though it was not the first time the judiciary had ruled bandh to be illegal, the urgency of the matter got accentuated this
time as the Supreme Court heard the case on a Sunday and handed down the direction to the Tamil Nadu government in the evening.
The Chief Minister had no alternative but to comply with the order, though as an expression of protest he resorted to
fasting, which itself was cut short to three hours instead of the proposed day-long programme to escape the adverse
conclusion by the Supreme Court. On the next day when the apex court was informed that the bandh was observed, it came down
heavily on the State government and even hinted that it would recommend its removal on ground of failure of the constitutional
machinery in the state. Let us hope that the apex court will provide permanent relief to the people from this menace of bandh
syndrome.

While it is necessary in a democracy to enable people to launch protests against the authorities and make them hear the
grievances of the people, it is a more important content of democracy that the citizens enjoy the right to live their life in
peaceful and orderly conditions. Bandh today has assumed the characteristics of terrorism: it terrorizes the people into
submission, which does not allow them a choice to do anything else. It forces them to great hardship and loss of days� work
and earning. The terrorists strike at the selected target to terrorize people but the sponsors of bandh spread their terror
tactics to a wider area by camouflaging it as people�s display of resentment against the authorities. Militancy has harmed the
State and the bandh is nothing but a militant way of achieving its objectives. It is destroying the State, its work culture
and social cohesiveness without achieving anything at all. The bandh enthusiasts do not realize that the government is immune
from pressure through such coercive methods and the frequency of its practice makes it impossible for any government even to
take any notice of it. It thus ceases to be against-government movement and instead assumes the anti-people role. It benefits
no one except possibly those who are paid irrespective of whether a job is done or not, like the government functionaries for
whom each day of bandh is an extra holiday adding to the long list of official holidays. If the bandhs could resolve the
issues, surely the State would have been problem-free by now. Instead, every bandh pushes the State a step further into
economic and social disarray.

The bandh brigades have no concern for the citizens or for economic health of the State. They are selfish with no sense of
accountability and compassion for the people. Purely on economic consideration, it is roughly estimated that a day�s bandh
cost Rs 50 crore four years ago. At today�s rate, it may be anything up to Rs 100 crore a day. In a year if there are about
60 bandhs in the State, the loss would amount to Rs 6,000 crore and that translates to a per capita loss of Rs 2,000 for the
three-crore people of the State. That is a month�s wages for a poor daily wage earner.

There is even greater loss than this in terms of human suffering which is beyond quantification. The bitterness of denial of
rights during the bandh is long lasting and it creates a sense of cynicism in all. The frustration arising out of it finds
expression in social and group tension leading to more violence and lawlessness. Despite the rulings by the courts that bandh
is illegal, the government finds it difficult to stop it because at times it is also a party to this illegal form of protest.
Democracy offers a wide range of avenues for protest and articulation of differences without putting a stop to normal life.

In an article, a former Chief Justice of a High Court expressed that the Supreme Court had exceeded its limit in banning the
bandh in Tamil Nadu because it is a political right. Surely, the political freedom cannot subvert the fundamental rights of
citizens to peacefully follow their avocation without intimidation and violence, to move without the danger of attack to
places of work, to hospitals, educational institutions and travel by road, rail or air. Between the fundamental rights and
the political right, the former must prevail lest the latter should cease to exist. Besides whose political right is this
anyway when there is no single political party in India that can claim the majority support of the people?

Any bandh call, irrespective of the extent of area in which it is enforced, creates bottleneck in communication and hampers
normal activities of life in the entire area. A bandh in Kokrajhar or Dhubri district chokes the whole of Northeast, and the
Assam Government, which is responsible for maintenance of law and order, has failed to prevent it. Bandh invariably results
in damages to life and property, and in 2004 the Mumbai High Court directed the BJP and the Shiv Sena to compensate the loss
of Rs 20 lakh for damages. It was a landmark decision and should be taken as a reference point in dealing with bandh
hooliganism. It is time for the governments to act now lest the courts force it on them as it happened in 2006 when the
Supreme Court forced the governments at the Centre and in the States to enact a new Police Act because they failed to
respond to a crying public need.

Assam, being the gateway State to the entire region of Northeast, must take the lead to eradicate this scourge and save the
State. It should enact a law banning the bandh and for recovering the cost of damages to life and property in the course of
public display of protest or in public assemblage from the organizers responsible for such acts. It will prove to the world
that it is no longer the land of lahe-lahe but of initiative and action.

(The writer is Chief Information Commissioner, Asom)