Robbing the bank

Those 2.5 lakh bank officers who decided to play hookie on Thursday didn8217;t get it. The Indian public is tired and disgusted with strike...

Those 2.5 lakh bank officers who decided to play hookie on Thursday didn8217;t get it. The Indian public is tired and disgusted with strikers of every kind. The first to hit the road in this summer of discontent were the truckers. Pretty soon they were feeling the heat of public anger, as essential commodities disappeared from markets and ordinary consumers were held hostage to the whims of a influential lobby that hoped their powerful political backers would give them a lift. Air-India8217;s pilots came next, springing a strike on hapless travellers without telling them that it was one. It8217;s their fear of Sars, they said, that provoked their wayward ways. Once again they met with an adamantine wall of public disapproval. For once, the government and the Air-India management decided to call their bluff. When reports last came in, all Air-India8217;s 8216;8216;Sars-hit8217;8217; pilots had returned to work, and a very contrite bunch they made.

Now, of course, it is the turn of the bank officials to test the patience of the citizen. Friday saw them waving banners and shouting slogans with great gusto. Being natural wizards at number crunching, they chose the date of their strike with care 8212; one day after May 1, a holiday, and just before the weekend. It seems time-honoured habits of shirking work are manifesting in different ways. They even told us just how much their present exertions are costing the nation: Rs 100 crore, they crowed. That8217;s public money, they are talking about, but do they care? There8217;s going to be another holiday for slogan-shouting later in the month, they promised, to be followed by an 8216;8216;indefinite8217;8217; strike if their dhobi list of demands is not addressed.

The NDA government may be tempted to humour the strikers, seeing that one of the striking unions is allied to the BJP8217;s Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh. But they would be doing this at the risk of grievously hurting public sector banking. Both private and international banks have increased their presence in India and, interestingly, officers from these banks did not join the strike. Incidentally, the strikers were also protesting the proposed amendments to the bank nationalisation act and the banking regulation act. They realise that with privatisation will come accountability and accountability will mean that the days of irresponsible mass protests will end.