The united opposition call for Bharat Bandh to protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation move has turned out to be poor show. With exception at some places people’s participation in this protest was minuscule and whatever was visible was all party workers. Common man may be undergoing hard ship over the note ban but the worst affected are the parties and their leaders who are yet to come out of the ‘midnight strike’ shock. Bandhs or protests have not till date served people’s cause but has added to hardships they are already under going. So people’s negative response to such calls was obvious. The Left Front which was vociferous in criticising Modi at every step was left red-faced as its 12-hour strike to protest the demonetisation of high-denomination currency notes failed to evoke much response from people. Congress too has sulked under the poor response. The demonetisation exercise has brought a rarely seen unity among Opposition parties, but they stand divided over the way they would protest against the measure. The opposition parties agree on the principle of the currency ban, meant to flush out black money but say the government has taken the step without adequate preparations, resulting in immense pressure and hardship for the common man. Political parties certainly have the right to demonstrate and protest peacefully. But this shouldn’t come at the cost of disrupting lives of common people. Parties enforcing Bandhs should know that they have no right to come in the way of people who are pursuing their livelihood. Apart from the Left, other opposition parties including Congress observing ‘Aakrosh Divas’ have wisely chosen to protest against the government’s currency ban rather than enforce a Bharat Bandh that could have brought normal life to a grinding halt.
