Whats the point of "BANDH"

[Desi Cartman]

KOLKATA: West Bengal was in the grip of a bandh for the second consecutive day on Friday after the opposition Trinamool Congress and its ally the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) enforced the shut down to protest the fuel price hike. ( Watch ) For the second day in a row the bandh disrupted rail and road communication. Most shops and markets were closed and there were very few vehicles on the road. Trains services in Howrah and Sealdah section were badly hit. Eastern Railway (ER) and South Eastern Railway (SER) authorities have cancelled several trains while many long distance trains were stranded at different stations due to the blockades on the tracks put up by the bandh supporters. Airport sources around 15 flights took off from the N S C Bose International Airport till 7 am. Trinamool Congress along with SUCI called the 12-hour bandh against Centre's fuel price hike decision. The CPI(M)-led ruling Left Front on Thursday called a bandh to protest against the fuel price hike.

I guess a common poor man in India doesnt understand why the fuel prices are going up but the leaders like Mamta Banerjee would surely know that there is nothing much that the Govt can do about it. India isnt exporting petrol and it doesnt fix the price in the international market. So whats the idea behind this Bandh ?

[CSK Fan]

Bandh is a obsolete leftover from the British Raj. When it was against a foreign goverment ruling us, it was effective but nowadays its more like an axe on one's own leg. The crores of ruppes lost by 12 hr strike in Kolkata will hurt the common man much more than the 5 rupees hike ever could. But politicians have seen this as the perfect opportunity to score some points and mis-guide the common people despite the fact that they KNOW nothing much could have been done here. Oil companies were losing billions of rupees and going bankrupt

[Guest dada_rocks]

nothing but politics.. same parties organize bandh for diametrically opposite issues in diff state.. CPM is pro industry pro tata in nandigram same CPM takes cudgels on behalf of anti establishment in orissa and is anti POSCO.. t

[Ram]

All this Bandh/hartal/road-blocks reflects a culture of absolute lack of respect for public convenience. Such forms of 'protest' doesnt happen in more mature, modern democracies. Only in India, political parties absolutely trample public interests to make their voices heard. Only in our country, do we see trains blocked, buses burned and shops destroyed. Calling ourselves a democracy is a massive joke. The biggest inconvenience to our everyday life comes from those in power.

[Guest dada_rocks]

All this Bandh/hartal/road-blocks reflects a culture of absolute lack of respect for public convenience. Such forms of 'protest' doesnt happen in more mature, modern democracies. Only in India, political parties absolutely trample public interests to make their voices heard. Only in our country, do we see trains blocked, buses burned and shops destroyed. Calling ourselves a democracy is a massive joke. The biggest inconvenience to our everyday life comes from those in power.

bandh and other civil protes has gandhian philosophical sanction so this is not going away anytime soon given the kind of romnanticisn we associate with that name..