The Hindu : `Common man bears the brunt of hartals'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 25, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

`Common man bears the brunt of hartals'

By Our Staff Reporter

THRISSUR MARCH 24. The former Supreme Court Judge and human rights activist, Justice K. T. Thomas, has criticised hartals that are imposed on the people.

Delivering the `Bishop Dr. Paulose Mar Paulose Memorial Lecture' here today, Justice Thomas said hartals, new avatars of the bandhs, affected mostly those belonging to the lower strata of society.

``Have you ever heard any major traders, or leaders or the Ministers being affected by hartals? No. It is the ordinary people who bear the brunt of hartals in the form of denial of wages for that day and or being prevented from moving out to attend to any emergency requirements."

Recalling that it was the Congress leaders who had started imposing hartals after the ban on bandhs by the courts during the tenure of the previous LDF regime, Justice Thomas asked why people should tarnish the name of even Mahatma Gandhi by saying that he had also called for bandhs. Quoting the late Bishop Paulose Mar Paulose, Justice Thomas said late Bishop had raised asked the question "what right do you have to remain silent' when injustices are happening around one.

He said hartals and bandhs would end if the media collectively took a decision not to publish or broadcast any news relating to them.

Emphasising that secularism was a much-misunderstood word in the Indian context, Justice Thomas said in India, this term was often understood in relation to religion. "Secularism, in its real sense, is against division based on religion, caste or creed. True secularism has nothing to do with religion and it upholds the dignity of individuals," he said.

Referring to the tendency to misuse the minority-majority divide in the country, Justice Thomas said the Indian Constitution guarantees special d rights to the minorities only in the case of running educational institutions. The minorities who deserve special rights in this country were the people who had various infirmities, and they in fact constituted the huge majority. The chairman of the Bishop Paulose Mar Paulose Trust, Ninan Koshy, in his presidential address said the need for the presence of Bishop Mar Paulose was being increasingly felt in this period when all the three major ideals cherished by him -- peace, secularism and human rights - were under grave threat.

Bishop Thomas Mar Athanasius, Bishop Yuhannan Milithios and Paul C. Joseph were among those who spoke on the occasion.

The top scoring students from first standard to Plus II level from the Chaldean Syrian Higher Secondary School, and the student who had won the highest mark in B.Sc Mathematics from the St. Thomas College were given cash awards at the function. The award amounts were donated by the C. L. Vareed Charities Trust.

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