No armchair criticism, this

A day after the bandh, which gave Mumbaikars a long weekend, MiD DAY carried an opinion piece by its Editor Abhijit Majumder ('The snobbery over bandhs', MiD DAY, July 6). It was a provocative, even combative headline to a piece with an interesting contrarian view, which essentially argued that while the smug middle-classes sneered at such forms of protest, they themselves were indifferent and apathetic to what was going on around them.

The writer described the armchair critics as "largely caught up in sucking up to their bosses and ducking their spouses." Clever words these and, to some extent, bang on, since it is well known that once the bourgeoisie gets comfortable with good salaries and mortgages, it tends not to rock the boat. But alas, not only is the phrase itself unfair, the argument too lacks logic and vigour.

As a so-called henpecked chamcha (the omnibus term for all anti-bandh types), I can confirm that I was against the bandh, not only for the act itself but also the thing it stood for. And it goes without saying that I abhor the violence and destruction of property that inevitably accompanies such meaningless protests. Does that make me part of the establishment or indeed against the poor ufffd who have no option but to protest? Hardly.

The socialist and Left parties honed the bandh to perfection and the mantle was later taken up by the Shiv Sena. Terrorising small shopkeepers and spreading fear in the city was always part of the modus operandi, but it was a genuine political protest which governments took seriously. But everything has a sell-by date, after which it turns rancid and irrelevant.

Majumder himself has pointed out how his native city Kolkata has been ruined by bandhs, most of them called by the ruling party.

That does not, however, mean that protests themselves are pass ufffd. True, the comfortable urban middle class does not come out on the streets often, but, that by itself does not imply that they are not angry with the way things are run. Many an activist fighting local forces trying to take over a public garden is from the middle class. Public interest litigation suits are being filed by those who know how to use the system. Ditto with RTI applications.

As for the argument that the voiceless and the less-well-off don't have any other recourse but to come on the streets, anyone who has seen a bandh closely will know that it is for, of, and by hardcore political activists being controlled by fat-cat politicians.u00a0

In fact, this time round, even those who have good salaries and are well placed understood that a protest had to be registered against the failures of the UPA (though the petrol price hike itself is a debatable issue).

Clearly, the UPA has lost its way. It deserves to be attacked for these failures. But the Opposition has failed to do that effectively in Parliament. It is, instead, relying on outdated and unimaginative forms of protest; a bandh is easy if you have the muscle power. This is hardly going to worry the government.

The net result ufffdwe have lost a day of productivity, public property has been destroyed, the poor have lost a day's wages and the prices have not come down. As for people from the middle class, they had a nice, long weekend.