Thursday, August 2, 2012

Do we need this?

A hartal called by the CPM, to protest the arrest of P Jayarajan in connection with the Shukoor - a young Muslim League activist - murder case, has been total. Over and above the fact that it disrupted normal life, there was violence in many parts of the state but its intensity was felt in the Kannur and Kasaragode districts of north Kerala. There has been large scale destruction of public property and news confirm targeted attacks on the media and their rival parties' assets.

Isn't there a legal process to redress one's grievance? The charge against Jayarajan is that he was aware of the fact that Shukoor would be 'sorted out' and did not do a thing to prevent it from happening, thereby becoming a part of the conspiracy, which is a criminal case and invites strict punishment as per the Indian Penal Code. Accepting the argument - for a moment - that the government in power is hounding out the opposition and the CPM, in particular after the murder of TP Chandrasekharan, did it have to go on a rampage and give enormous difficulty to the common man? ......It's totally unjustifiable.

The only way to clear his name on the issue, is for Jayarajan to go the whole hog of the legal process! There's no short cut on that score.

As a citizen, I've this nagging doubt - what's the difference between a 'strike'(banned by the court) and the 'hartal' of today? Is there any difference at all? Or is it a joshing of nomenclatures to hoodwink the law? I mean, whom are we kidding in the process?


Tailpiece.

One of the early fall outs of the hartal, was a teary and frantic call from a young Major stranded at the Ernakulam Junction railway station, along with his wife and two children - a boy of six and an infant girl
- wanting to reach the airport about 35 kms away to catch their onward flight. Just managed to get a private vehicle, with two of my men in uniform to ferry the hapless family to their destination!

I'm sure that there would be many more cases of agony - unknown, for the lack of media coverage - caused by these heartless guys who called for the hartal!

PS.

I'm no Nostradamus but I can predict one thing based on the games politicians play. If and when the LDF
 were to come to power next, P Jayarajan would want to be the Home Minister and he'll use the same system to bring out another outcome of the same case.

Can you blame me for being cynical?    

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