Skip to content Skip to navigation

A ban on Bandhs

A bandh is the choicest means of protest for all political parties or organizations. We have seen umpteenth number of bandhs for hundreds of reasons such as killings, price rise, atrocities etc. But have these bandhs ever benefited the cause they are called for? Instead these bandhs reverse the wheel of an already slow progress that Assam is involved in. School children and college going youngsters are unable to complete their syllabi on time which later has a bad effect on their future results, ailing people suffer immensely for non availability of medical attention, daily wage earners are the worst sufferers who are unable to feed the hungry mouths at home. In such a predicament do these people gain anything by the bandhs. Assam has the most number of bandhs in a year added with the other calendar holidays and Sundays the Assamese hardly get time to work. In fact a trend has developed among us to expect some kind of a bandh frequently so much so that it seems that the bandh givers have realized the pulse of the people and slate the bandhs on weekends or nearing holidays so that the bandh becomes total. Again in such a condition the people are hardly bothered regarding the cause behind such bandhs.

In fact Assam is known for its tea, rhino, ULFA and bandh culture which perhaps has also earned it the epithet of a lahe-lahe city. Surprisingly the grapevine works its best during such bandhs and people come to know of a bandh in a matter of minutes! Perhaps deep down we like those bandhs which gives us a respite from the daily grind.

Protests should be such that the common public gets an active part to play. Public discussions, suggestions, door to door campaigns, candle light marches, sit in demonstrations, slogans fasts etc are better ways of making a point then calling for bandhs.

Bandhs not only put a brake in the economic progress but it also means huge losses to the country at large and the state in particular. Moreover, such bandhs send a wrong message to the outside world and most importantly to our future generations who are going to get this bandh culture as a legacy. But will anybody’s conscience be stirred by the above observations? I think not. May be we should call for a bandh to put an end to bandhs!

Comments

jaay's picture

” Protests should be such that the common public gets an active part to play. Public discussions, suggestions, door to door campaigns, candle light marches, sit in demonstrations, slogans fasts etc are better ways of making a point then calling for bandhs.” You must be joking, right? When was the last time when we heard that there was protest in which public genuinely played a constructive part ….. I can’t remember any in last 3 decades… before that, I can’t say, because I was not born. I remember when I sued to go to school, we were too happy to learn that there was strike and we have to miss the school. You see the enlightenment comes early and as we grow and become aware of the power of jamming, we tend to become more ruthless, we do what we believe in or are made to believe, without realizing that neither the demands are but the leaders get away with all the publicity (and money). We are becoming self destructive society, If this doesn’t stop, we have a heavy price to pay. “May be we should call for a bandh to put an end to bandhs!” You can try that it will be quiet a fun. All the best
Mubuku Grappa's picture

Assam is NOT lahe-lahe city, but rather "the land of lahe-lahe", where everything movies slowly. These days, Assam is known as Bandh/Bandha Pradesh.

Pages

Add new comment

Random Stories

Assam join rowing champs

1 Jun 2014 - 8:07am | Nababuddin Ahmed
A 40 member team of Boys and Girls of Assam Rowing Team is participating in the 17th Sub-Junion National and 18 Challenger Sprint National Rowing Championship which begins in Kolkata on Sunday....

Conspiracy to kill Himanta!

8 Dec 2017 - 5:59pm | AT News
GUWAHATI: In a strange revelation two persons arrested a couple of days back in the outskirt of Guwahati confessed to have been trying to eliminate Himanta Biswa Sarma for ₹5 crore. The revelation...

Sarbananda takes homes, finance to Himanta

26 May 2016 - 2:22pm | AT News
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal will look after political, power and home departments while his second in command Himanta Biswa Sarma will be minister for finance, education, health.Sonowal...

Police grill Akhil Gogoi

3 Mar 2014 - 7:50pm | AT News
Marathon interrogation is in progress on Akhil Gogoi a day after police got the KMSS president in their remand in connection with the recent self immolation of Pramod Boro.A special team of police...

Other Contents by Author

Strife torn Pakistan witnessed yet another blood bath when a suicide bomber detonated himself inches from Pakistan’s former Prime minister Benazir Bhutto after she was leaving an election rally in Rawalpindi’s Liaqat Bagh Park. A gunman also shot her on the neck and chest ensuring that Bhutto does not escape death for a second time. Bhutto had earlier escaped a bid on her life on October 18 at Karachi in which 140 people died. Leaders in Pakistan it seems are either doomed to have violent deaths or are banished from their native lands. Benazir’s father and former Prime minister Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto was hanged in this garrison town in 1979 after a military coup....
JBF (India), Guwahati Chapter inaugurated an Animal Relief Center for street and stray animals at Chandan Nagar, Survey, Beltola. The aim of the relief center is to provide medical help to the stray and street animals. However it also has a treatment cell where privately owned animals will also be treated and the donations received from owners will be used to run the Animal Relief Center.JBF (India) is an organization promoted by JBF(Scotland), a professionally managed organization working in the field of Animal Welfare since the year 2003. JBF (India) is a member of the Society of World Society for Protection of Animals (WSPA). JBF (India) is also a recognized by the Animal Welfare Board...
Star crossed Assam witnessed yet another assault last night when a powerful bomb planted on the tracks ripped off the luggage van of the Rajdhani Express killing five persons and injuring four others. The 2423 A Down Rajdhani Express was proceeding from Dibrugarh to Guwahati between Naojan and Chongajan railway stations in Golaghat district at about 1.06 am on the ill fated night of December 13.Though the police have not yet ascertained the identity of the militants however they claimed that Adivasi National Liberation Army (ANLA) militants were presumed to be behind the blast.A Central team is coming to take stock of the situation in the aftermath of the blast. It is alleged that the Home...
Just as the future of Assam’s handloom dreams had found wings in the form of the GI status of the muga silk a sudden turn of events threatens to clip those wings in the bud as reports of heavy loss in the muga sector starts pouring in.This winter the muga farmers are staring into eyes of a financial crisis with the failure of the Central Silk Board’s (CSB) summer muga crop popularly known as the Bhadiya. Officially the loss is estimated to be of fifteen crores this year however the farmers and dealers claim it to be around fifty crores. The cause of this calamity has been stated as weather related.Assam produces three different varieties of Silk viz, Pat Muga, and Eri or Endi....
The role of the media in today’s society is two fold. It reports the goings on of our society as well as tries to reform its social evils. But there is a certain section of the electronic visual media which also attempts to kick off a controversy by exaggerating their reporting which ultimately leads to a public outcry followed by its repercussions.The recent furor created by the Beltola violence where Adivasi rallyists clashed with locals is a direct result of such a trend. Moreover, it also exposed the gaping ignorance of the national channels regarding the region that is termed the northeast.The media’s attempt to sensationalize the incident of the Beltola clash reached...
Violence has revisited Assam with a vengeance. After a comparatively peaceful period once again Assam bleeds. The unfortunate incident of group clash jolted Assam out of its reverie and has triggered a kind of a chain reaction of bandhs, blasts and increased the probability of ethnic clashes. Ethnic clashes were an alien occurrence in Assam till black Saturday dawned upon the people of Assam on the fateful day of November 24.An allegedly peaceful rally of Adivasi Students’ Association demanding the status of Scheduled Tribes status of the Adivasi community turned into a gory battleground for local residents of Beltola area of Guwahati and the rallyists. Hundreds of vehicles, shops and...
Assam tea has reached new heights with the recent conferring of Geographical Indications label ,GI status to the Orthodox Assam tea. Orthodox tea is the second Assam product to bag the GI label after muga silk. The GI label is exclusive to only a handful of generically identifiable products such as Swiss watches, Czech crystals, champagne, Mysore sandalwood oil and Kancheepuram silk.There are certain requirements that the product has to fulfill before getting the GI status. The products should have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are special to that particular state or place of origin to qualify for the GI status.The GI status is going to be hugely...
“The aim of education is the knowledge not of facts but of values,” a maxim which seems to have lost its true meaning in the rampant commercialization of education in our present day. Value education is an important rung in the ladder of education but sadly our schools and colleges fail to provide the same to our students. Today education has been taken over by the syllabus as education ends with the completion of the syllabus, a trend which in turn has given rise to a number of institutes and universities carrying forward the wheel of education in a mechanical sense.Imparting of knowledge has become a business to certain people who claim to provide various courses for...
Now I know you now I don’t that’s the secret game going on between the former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and his estranged party members. After splits, expulsion, reunions, agreements disagreements the former AGP chief is once again surrounded in controversy as his reputation is once again tarnished by the indictment in the “secret killings” case. Constituted in 2005 the justice (Retd) KN Saikia Commission of Inquiry on Secret Killings carried out between the year 1998 and 2001 after studying 35 cases of the nature of secret killing in four phases, in its report held Mahanta the then chief minister as well as in charge of the home department responsible...
The tourism sector of Assam is a boom waiting to happen. Picturesque landscape, cultural heritage, historical monuments and artifacts all are in abundance here albeit in various stages of neglect. A little effort on the part of the government and people can turn the state into a tourist hub. Many steps are in the pipeline to give the all important push to the fledging tourism industry of the state. One such project jointly funded by the state government and the Centre promises to give a new lease of lie to the neglected Ahom era monuments in Siva sagar district, a project which was initiated by Hemoprava Saikia the chairperson of the Assam Tourism Development Corporation. The budget of...