Confrontation taking a worse turn

That the opposition has adopted the hartal course is political expediency, caring little for the welfare of the people. But we would like to tell the government that if it had diverted a modicum of the enthusiasm and dynamism -- that it is showing to counter opposition programmes -- to some sincere attempts at solving problems like price hike, inefficiency, corruption and creaking law and order, governance would have been so much the better, and the resistance to hartal that much more intense. We know that the argument in favour of confronting the opposition is that any political agitation must be countered politically. We can only bemoan the fact that the ruling alliance is viewing the issue from the wrong end; otherwise, they wouldn't have thought of using the government machinery in the implementation of the ruling party's political agenda. The approach is highly flawed.

While hartal is a politically bankrupt strategy, which makes the whole nation pay dearly for the fulfillment of a party's objective, the government's much-vaunted counter measures aimed at bludgeoning the opposition are also a manifestation of an equally bankrupt political thinking. Why can't the government turn its attention to governance and administration and perform its mandated role? If they had done so, would it not have taken the wind off the opposition's sail? The slanging match approach represents a typical case of a misplaced priority redoubling the disruptive effect of confrontational politics.

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We are getting more and more convinced that dialogue is the first step towards reversing the political rot that threatens to further imperil the precarious existence of the people. Dialogue is also the only way to survival as politics of confrontation is pushing the country towards abysmal uncertainty.