What is a "bandh," you ask? It's a strike and it's something very dear to Kolkata's identity. Having a communist state government for the last 27 years (that's what I've been told, fact not verified), strikes are common -- but of late, the strikes have been rather pitiful, locals report. Today's however, was a full-fledged bandh as not seen in the last six or seven years.
I'm still a little unclear as to what brought about the bandh, which, actually, was called for by the opposition Congress party in an attempt to show the ruling Congress party how much power it actually holds, even though it's in the opposition. It started last night with the burning of six city buses. Today, all shops were ordered closed and people not to report to work. If you went to work, a distinct possibility existed that you would be harassed and/or your car commandeered by hooligans. The street cars were running, and some daring taxis were also operating (and charging double the fare for the "risk").
The only businesses that seemed exempt to the bandh were hotels. Thus, the restaurants at hotels were packed with people (such as myself) who had no where else to eat lunch - or nothing else to do since everything was closed.
My office, of course, was open. And 120 of 140 visa applicants showed up - which, according to local staff, means the bandh was only marginally successful. A truly successful bandh has a no-show rate in the 50% range. I wonder if the local news reports on such a statistic :)
Thankfully, this was only a 12-hour bandh, from 6AM to 6PM. In Indian time, this really means from 10AM to 4PM. As I walked out of the office around 4PM just to see what was going on, a few daring street vendors were definitely setting up shop again, hoping to catch a captive audience bored from a day at home. And, thankfully, Greg's plane isn't landing until late this evening by which time all remaining vestiges of the bandh will be over. The airport didn't shut down during this bandh, but it has in the past.
All this has me and the other American staff wondering - who really gains from the bandh? It's not the people, I don't think. All the small shopkeepers lose a day's business (or face a real threat of vandalism) -- only the large companies with extensive security can afford to stay open. It's not the taxi drivers. It's not the tax payers, because the government has to replace all the damaged property. So, the concept of a bandh doesn't seem logical to me - but, in fairness, no one has ever mistaken me for a communist.
1 comment:
They also have these sort of strikes in South Africa. There, though, the people gather outside and sing and dance, called "toi-toi", as part of the strike. The result is that it seems more like a street party than a work stoppage.
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