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Kerala outfits call off bandhs after high court ban

The Kerala high court's decision banning general strikes (bandhs) and imposing restrictions on processions and other modes of agitations affecting normal life has had quick results with two groups calling off their scheduled bandhs.

The People's Democratic Party, a political organisation of the Muslim community and backward classes, called of its decision to picket trains at various centres in the state on Wednesday. The picketing was to demand the dismissal of the Maharashtra government for the police firing which claimed 11 lives in Bombay following the desecration of an Ambedkar statue.

Also, a tribals action council, formed to demand the restoration of land taken from the tribals, has called off its bandh slated for August 15. The council, which met on Wednesday, said that the it would consult legal experts before announcing its further programmes.

In a landmark judgment on July 28, the Kerala high court declared that organisations which call for bandhs are liable to compensate the government, the public, and private citizens for any loss that they may suffer during the bandh.

The judgment, passed down by Justices K G Balakrishnan, P G Balasubramanyan and J B Koshy, was in response to a petition filed by industrialist Bharat Kumar and the Ernakulum Chamber of Commerce. The division bench said that bandhs enforced by an association or political party is illegal and unconstitutional. The court said that bandhs affecting normal life amounted to trespassing upon the fundamental rights of citizens.

The high court's decision has evoked mixed reactions in the state and the country. While almost all the political parties, including the ruling Left Democratic Front, felt that the high court decision amounted to denial of the citizens' fundamental rights to register their protests, social and cultural organisations hailed the decision.

Former Supreme Court judge and human rights activist justice V R Krishna Iyer said on Tuesday that the decision was most timely. He told Rediff On The NeT that a bandh was unconstitutional as its infringed on the rights of citizens for expression, movement and health. The Kerala high court decision, he said, was worth emulating for other states.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist said the decision was unfortunate. A party spokesman in Thiruvananthapuram said that bandhs were accepted in the country as the most effective mode of protest ever since the freedom struggle and added that the judicial intervention against it was undemocratic.

The Bharatiya Janata Party also criticised the decision saying it was undemocratic.

Kerala Opposition leader A K Antony refused to comment, saying he was yet to have study the judgment. However, Congress leaders M M Hassan and Cherian Philip said the high court decision reflected the need of the time.

Kerala has seen a number of bandhs ever since the Communist-led government came to power. The state had seen 11 statewide bandhs in the past 18 months. Besides several district had also witnessed localised bandhs.