Thumbing their nose at almost every clause in the stern orders of the Kerala High Court on Monday, the Congress-led UDF virtually paralysed Kerala during its 12-hour hartal today, as its workers stoned vehicles, beat up people, forcibly closed shops and offices, waylaid many on the roads and grappled with the police in parts of the state.Hearing a PIL against the “anti-people” aspect of hartals and asking for a direction to the state Government to ensure that public life is not affected, an HC division bench comprising Chief Justice H L Dattu and K M Joseph had ordered on Monday that those calling for hartals should adhere to the 2004 verdict of a full HC Bench, which had come down heavily on all forms of forcible hartals.However, Tuesday’s hartal, which the UDF had called against price rise among other demands, paid little heed to the clauses the court had spelled out.One of these was that those calling for a hartal should ask followers to make sure that nobody is compelled to participate against their wishes, and no hartal should affect the public’s freedom to travel. The UDF’s lawyers had assured the court that Tuesday’s hartal would be peaceful and workers would not resort to any violence or use of force.The UDF leaders, too, had said that their hartal would be “peaceful”, and had exhorted the state’s population to “cooperate” with it. But once the hartal came into force in the morning, UDF mobs began roaming the streets in many parts of the state, stoning the few vehicles that dared to be on the roads, beating up some drivers, abusing passengers, deflating tyres and threatening those trying to resist.Many shops and offices which stayed open were stoned and the occupants forced out, restaurants had their glasses smashed, even banks and a government sub-treasury were attacked with stones and other missiles. Much of the mayhem was in Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam, Thrissur and Alappuzha districts, besides stray violence in Kozhikode and Malappuram.Appearing for the Government, State Advocate General C P Sudhakara Prasad had also assured the HC yesterday that the Government was committed to all possible measures to ensure that public life was not disrupted during the hartal. However, even the Government did little to keep its commitment in court. In many parts of the state, particularly in central and southern Kerala, large police possess mostly stood aside and watched mobs of hartal supporters going around stoning and waylaying vehicles.A senior police officer later disclosed that they were told not to do anything that could put the Government on the defensive during the Assembly session, set to begin tomorrow.Later in the day, UDF convener P P Thankachan claimed that the violence and stoning were only stray incidents, and maintained he was not sure if those involved were really UDF men. KPCC chief Ramesh Chennithala, while defending the hartal, said the Congress was game for any meaningful political debate aiming at stopping the use of hartals as a mode of agitation.Official records show Kerala has had 87 local and six statewide hartals since the beginning of last year, almost all of which paralysed life and free movement. While 20 of these were sponsored by the Congress-led UDF and 13 by the Left parties now in power, a significant 27 were called by the BJP-RSS combine that is yet to produce an MLA or MP in Kerala. Thirteen more of the equally “effective” hartals during this period were called not by any political outfit, but by the state’s powerful traders’ lobby.
