An interesting article appeared in the Economic Times today on Hartal and Kerala. Indeed a thought provoking article. The article is copied down giving full credit to the Journalist from ET.
NEW DELHI: Hartal’s own country: Kerala’s tourism corporation may have not yet adopted this as its catchline, but the modern-day Malayali appears to be high on it. Between January 16 and August 20 this year alone, the country’s most literate state pulled out all plugs to participate in a whopping 89 hartals (strikes, sit-ins, protests and the like) for a swelter of reasons ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous, the local to the global, the petty to the pious. The extent of the success of hartals among the congenitally protest-friendly Keralite, chronicled recently in a website imaginatively titled www.harthal.com, can be gauged by two parameters: The dizzy cash register of the state beverages’ corporation and TRP ratings of TV channels even as a technicoloured rash of serials and competitions break out on a dozen regional channels or more to keep the Citizen Malayali glued to his seat. In a fell stroke, the hartals celebrate two of his best loves: Liquor and melodrama. What better way to keep him mesmerised when all activity around comes to a standstill. The website lists every nook and cranny of modern Kerala’s own version of Cuba libre. On the last hartal, some parts of the idyllic state managed to clock up sales of more chicken and liquor than even at Christmas. The state’s electorate may be polarised between CPM-led LDF and Congress-led UDF, but come bandh-time, the Malayali shows the true spirit of accommodation and celebrates camaraderie and bonhomie. And it’s not just the BJP, which has barely any seats in the state that has managed to get many strikes propelled with the jet fuel of Malayali romance with protests, but also Naxal outfits. While the former are always a grand success, even bandhs by Naxalities, who are in the periphery of the state’s political activity, get decent backing. Be it the hanging of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussain or the Danish cartoon of the Prophet, Malayalis are the first to bring shutters down. That the bandh has become the favourite protest mode was evident when the state’s trading community organised a state-wide bandh. In the good old days, traders never participated in bandhs as it affected their profits. With all normal life is at standstill in hartal time, some enterprising Keralite entrepreneurs are understood to have even started a business of ferrying potential boozards to the jazzed up waiting bars. But while the carnival is on, the state’s only legitimate source of income, is taking a big beating. In Alleppey’s backwaters, where the Kettuvallam or Keralite version of houseboats are a big favourite with foreign tourists, the beginning of the tourist season has already hit a speedbreaker with roads, shops, airports, hotels all downing shutters to celebrate hartals.
