Bandh bullying can’t bring inflation down

One more bandh to protest against inflation was called on Tuesday.

Since it was orchestrated by the trade unions, it met with marginal success across the country and total success (where else?) in West Bengal and Kerala.

Compounding the problem was a strike called by doctors in parts of Rajasthan and later at a major hospital in Delhi that wanted guaranteed safety against attacks by unhappy patients and their families.

Sure, inflation is an important issue. But is it still right to disrupt people’s lives for it? Despite the courts taking a negative stance on it, our political parties and unions still use bandhs as legitimate tools of protest — never mind that they are often undemocratic, and forced down people’s throats.

The public is too scared to give the bandh bullies a fitting reply.

Trade unions in particular do not seem to have realised how much the world has changed around them and how little impact such protests have.

The last all-India bandh hardly rattled the government at the Centre. For all that, it was deemed a success. Tuesday’s bandh is not likely to change the course of history. But our unions will
declare victory after disrupting life once more.