'Militant unionism': Shashi Tharoor asks why Bharat bandh turns into 'Kerala Bandh'

Congress MP from Thiruvanthapuram Shashi Tharoor said right to strike does not include the right to enforce a shutdown on others.

• Kerala nearly halted by 24-hour strike called by 10 central trade unions
• Congress leaders Tharoor and Satheesan criticized shutdowns for disrupting life
• Transport, shops, banks, and offices were severely affected across the state

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A 24-hour nationwide strike called by a joint platform of 10 central trade unions brought normal life to a near halt in Kerala on Thursday.

Although senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi backed the Bharat bandh, party leaders  Shashi Tharoor and V D Satheesan condemned the shutdowns for paralysing public life.

According to a report in The Hindu, the strike, which began at midnight on Wednesday and will continue till midnight on Thursday, led to the closure of shops and commercial establishments across the state. Central and State government offices and public sector banks saw disrupted functioning. Transport services were severely affected, with auto-rickshaw, taxi, bus and lorry workers joining the strike. Railway and airport employees also participated.

Taking to micro-blogging platform X, Congress MP from Thiruvanthapuram Shashi Tharoor said,  "It is a lamentable irony that today’s "Bharat Bandh" is, in reality, merely another "Kerala Bandh." While the rest of India has evolved beyond such coercive disruptions, Kerala remains uniquely held hostage by this organized tyranny of the minority over the unorganized majority."

"We have driven industry away with our militant unionism; now, by clinging to these antediluvian methods of "muscle power" that forcefully confine citizens as prisoners in their own homes, and oblige shopkeepers to down their shutters," said the Congress MP adding that the right to strike does not include the right to enforce a shutdown on others.

"Kerala’s reputation has suffered enough from militant unionism that extends beyond factory floors to our very streets and homes. We cannot aspire to be a modern, investor-friendly destination while adhering to outdated forms of agitation that the rest of the world — and indeed, the rest of India — has discarded," said Tharoor while underscoring the both 'the right to disagree' and 'the freedom to work and travel'.

Interacting with media in Kozhikode as part of the UDF’s 'Puthuyuga Yathra', Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Legislative Assembly and Congress leader V.D. Satheesan questioned why national strikes assume the character of a total bandh only in the state, even as normal life remains largely unaffected elsewhere in the country.

Satheesan said that while the Congress supports the broader demands raised by trade unions, the method of enforcing strikes in Kerala is outdated. "In neighbouring Tamil Nadu, one may hardly notice that a strike is taking place. In Karnataka, Maharashtra, or even Delhi, public life does not come to a standstill. Why should Kerala alone shut down as if it were a bandh?" he asked.

The Congress leader called for a broader public debate on the practice of enforcing total shutdowns in the name of national strikes.