State sponsored Bandh?

'State sponsored terrorism' is one blithely used term in the media. Joining its ranks now is the term 'State sponsored bandh' which is becoming very frequent in India.One such instance is the declaration of a bandh on March 31 by the Tamil Nadu Government (read as DMK and its allies). The bandh is supposed to be a protest against the Supreme Court's order staying 27 percent reservation in Higher education Institutions.

There are two disturbing aspects to this issue. Firstly, if the Supreme court is the highest authority in India, then its rulings are to be respected. Every time the decision goes against the personal whims of a particular party, their subsequent indulgence in public protests of this order tantamounts to disrespecting the authority of the court and its decisions. Sharad Yadav of Janata Dal has declared the Supreme Court's order to be 'unconstitutional' and asked the Government to 'ignore' it. So ignoring the court's order is a constitutional act, while what the court says is not!

Parties would (and should) have put forth any supporting arguments for their cases when it was sub judice. So the final ruling is made only after the consideration of all the arguments. If the parties still think their views are correct and they have been handed out an unfair deal, they should react as a party to have their views heard. This brings us to the second aspect of the issue. In this case, the DMK led allies have declared a bandh bringing things to a standstill in the state. They have announced that 31st will be a state holiday and state run buses will not be operated. They have also requested the Central Government to suspend train and Air services. They are striving to portray their parties' wishes as the state's voice by these actions. If they want their opinions to be heard they should convene a meeting among themselves and contact the centre and decide how they should go forth on the issue. Instead declaring a bandh and unnecessarily suspending essential transport services for a day is a blatant misuse of power. Just because they suspend services for a day in one state does not mean their argument is valid or the Supreme court would keep in mind the bandh when they pass the judgement in the future. The parties are only publicizing their views on such sensitive issues so as to retain political mileage and gain the trust of certain sections in the society. For this selfish reason of the party, indulging the machinery of one complete state Government is highly condemnable and there must be some rule that prohibits Governments from declaring such bandhs in the future.