Mangalore : A Monday Bharat Bundh on July 5 has been called by BJP, C.I.T.U. and many opposition parties all over India. Once in a blue moon, it is welcome, but the losses are huge and there is no way to recover them.
If Monday is a holiday to schools, colleges, banks, transport services in city/suburbs, offices and hotels all of them will suffer without work, business income on daily wages, food (for those relying on hotels for meals) and several others. Even children will get sick at home, bored by fear and in activity in the rainy season. There are those opportunists who take a long nap for 3 days, going out of city to villages. Many do not know how to prepare coffee or tea, and eat toast with butter on a forced holiday.
Absence of activity cripples the mind. One is not sure who is open and who is closed on a Bundh day in a Mall or Big Bazar, a temple, a canteen of a large establishment and so on.
At any rate, a Bundh is harmful to industry and business dealings, whether small scale or the scattered vendors types. This time since Monday is supported by over 20 to 25 organisations like BJP and the aggrieved NGOs on account of price rise in essential oils and gas for cooking food, Sunday (July 4) should be declared a working day by all establishments. There is nothing sabbatical or sacrosanct about Sunday being on working day, replacing a Monday under emergency. One can store food for 24 hours on Sunday and plan a holiday at home, or in a picnic spot, with family.
Thousands of families are affected by a Bundh, like the Bhopal gas leak tragedy, in a day when leaking out life is becoming difficult for many. What lesson do we give to young students by a Bundh ? Should they protest for everything and how ? Stoppage of work is no answer. It is a total eclipse of the sun on the Bundh day. The DCs in each district must warn politicians against all strikes and Bundhs in a populous country like ours.