On the eve of the birthday of the man who legitimised the use of civil disobedience as a weapon of change, the Supreme Court yesterday came down heavily on the Tamil Nadu government for violating its order not to observe a bandh on the Ram Sethu issue. “Is this a government? Is this the DMK government, a strong ally of (the) UPA government? If the state is not obeying the court order, it will be deemed as a complete breakdown of the constitutional machinery. If things continue like this, the UPA should not feel shy of imposing President’s rule in the state,” the court said.
The communist parties were first off the block in questioning the “uncalled-for judicial encroachment”. But the court’s comments reopen the old chestnut about bandhs, especially state-sponsored ones: Are bandhs legal or illegal? Are the rights of citizens superior to the rights of individual political parties? Or is a ban on bandhs an infringement of the fundamental right to free speech including the right to protest on streets?
Is a bandh still a democratic way of showing dissent in this day and age if it is within the “four corners of the Constitution“, or has it been reduced to state-sponsored goondagiri? Is a day’s inconvenience necessary to get the point across or have bandhs become a political show of muscle power, the aam admi be damned? Should all bandhs be banned or only some kinds? And if bandhs are to be banned, what are the other ways of registering protest, and seeking and getting justice?
Also read: The Supreme Court was right
Cartoon courtesy E.P. Unny/ The Indian Express
Bandhs are definitely democratic; but the way it gets ENFORCED on common man is obviously illegal. The true spirit of the Bandh is volunteer abstinence from activity, but that is not what happens normally. If the places are secured enough to ensure no miscreant activity, and people choose to respond to a Bandh call only if they wish to, it all makes a lot of sense.
But in any case, a government itself making a Bandh call is laughable. It only indicates their miserable failure.
[quote] On the eve of the birthday of the man who legitimised the use of civil disobedience as a weapon of change [/quote]
The man who very much legitimised the civil disobedience as a weapon used it against tyrants and unlawful occupiers of the country. The weapon became a real weapon because otherwise cries of the people would fall on deaf ears. Without a complete or a partial paralysis of the system one could not get the masters to stop and listen. It was an appropriate action for those times.
But things have changed, times have changed with them. Now that we as a people elect our own masters should be and must be listened to. For this, there should be better non-destructive and non-disruptive mechanisms. Leave alone the elected masters calling for such an action, people themselves should not be given such an opportunity, because we are not paralysing someone else’s system rather our own. We won’t be hurting someone else rather ourselves.
Even though the cause is right, the path to reach the end is not. Such an apathy towards our own selves is detrimental. Supreme court is right.
Bandhs should not be banned but both Karunanidhi and Prakash Karat should be deported and the UPA govt should be impeached for endangering the unity of the country
It’s a pity that Buddhadeb’s path-breaking initiative was rubbished by the CPM and Kerala CM. One golden opportunity to make a beginning to reform the society was lost. Hopefully it will create public opinion and people would follow that up.