The Practice and Control of Hartal
In recent times 'hartal' has become the topic of discussions at all levels. It is being discussed in the newspaper, Radio, TV, in seminars and meetings as if people have seen it or have faced it for the first time. All this is due to a statement by no less a personality than Sheikh Hasina, the Prime Minister of the country and chairperson of the party in power. She has stated that she would in future never give call for 'hartal' even if she is in opposition.
She has asked Khaleda Zia, the Leader of the Opposition to respond to her call and reciprocate. Significantly the PM didn't stop there. She advised the leader of the opposition to refrain from calling hartal because now democracy has been properly established and there are no more issues for calling hartal.
This naturally raises the question in mind, since when proper democracy has been established and the issues have been removed? Is it since 1991 or since 1996? The PM's statement has been well taken by all quarters at both home and abroad.
Being a teacher I tried to do some research to get to the origin of this phenomenon called "hartal." The dictionary, or encyclopedia, was not of much help. I took the help of a very learned friend of mine. Information supplied by him is that hartal is a Gujrati word. There are striking similarities between the two languages - Bengali and Gujrati. The actual meaning of the word 'Har' is any or every as in 'har-roj' meaning everyday. 'Tal' means action, business or 'dhanda'. Together they (Har-Tal) mean any thing goes - "sab chalta hai." This, if literally interpreted, means total anarchy.
The word, however, was first coined by Mahatma Gandhi. He might have chosen the word because he himself was from Gujrat. Gandhi first used the term and popularised the practice of it against the British rulers of that time. To the British it meant civil disobedience. At that time along with hartal another slogan was also very popular - "sarkar ka mal, daria me dhal" meaning - let government property be dumped in the sea.
Now it is another time, another situation. If hartal is civil disobedience and is associated with destruction of public property, can any sane person in a sovereign country advocate hartal? So 'hartal' which became popular during colonial times is not at all applicable in a free democratic country. In India also the term 'hartal' is not used any more. The term they use now is 'Bandh' meaning closed - everything is closed in protest. No disobedience, destruction or violence - just passive resistance and meaningful protest.
My first submission is that the term hartal should be changed. Specially Khaleda Zia, leader of the opposition, must not use the term 'hartal' as it is of Indian origin and borrowing anything from India must be avoided. Instead of 'hartal' more appropriate term like 'protest day' may be used. For Jamaat it may be mentioned that Islam discourages any violent opposition, revolt or breach of peace against any legitimate government or administration. So, there is no 'Hartal' or 'Bagawati' in Islam. In every Friday congregation we pray to be able to refrain from being a 'Baghi'. Being 'Baghi' meaning revolutionary or militant is a punishable offence. Well, once it is agreed to change the term 'hartal', I am sure, a suitable substitute can easily be found.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina made the announcement that she would never again give call for hartal. Well, she has a tendency of making sweeping announcement. When confronted with the problem of housing, she comes up with the statement that her government will provide housing for every family of the country. When asked about education she says that there would not be a single child not going to school. Same is true for medical care - Health for All by the end of the century etc. These are intentions, not policy decisions. She made similar statement regarding student politics that student politics will be abolished if opposition agree to do the same. But nothing came out of that. By the same token nothing might come out of this announcement. But it has been successful in moving a lot of air. The public in general the real sufferers of hartal should not let it slide away just like that. They would try to make something out of it. No-one of the other political leaders as well as believes that in her future political career she will refrain from calling hartal. Most of the people believe that when the need arises she will find various pleas to dodge this commitment. For it may be mentioned that Commerce and Industries Minister made a clear statement that if price of onion went above taka fifty per kilogram, he would resign. But the price did go up and he did not resign. In any case his resignation would not bring the price of onions down or change anything. And in any case, the people want relief from hartal.
Now let's see what happens during 'hartal'. It may not be out of place to express an experience of mine. One day while passing by Bangabandhu Avenue a boy of 15 or 16 asked for some help from me. Low-cost housing being my specialisation I asked him where he lived. He told me that he lived and slept on the foot-path. I asked him where he went to attend to nature's call. To my surprise he told me that he went to the stadium and that the galleries were suitable place for that. He also told that to his embarrassment police on duty sometimes stopped him and even beat him up. He further added that he was not sorry for that because he always threw stones at policemen during 'hartal'. Hartal was his time for revenge. Hartal is an expression of anger by the 'havenots' against the establishment; hartal is the outburst against social injustice. There are so much social injustice and so many 'havenots,' that whenever hartal is called it is bound to succeed. It is hardly an indication of support for the opposition or unpopularity of the party in power. Only on very rare occasions it indicates political success.
In Bangladesh that suggestions that protest and fights be dealt within the parliament does not work. Because even resignation of all the opposition MPs was totally ignored by the party in power and nothing happened. Besides in our parliament changing floor is not allowed and government cannot be made to fall in the parliament no matter how grossly wrong the party in power is.
While hartal brings untold miseries to the poor and underprivileged, I have hardly come across any privileged person and student who do not get relaxed and amused by a day of hartal in three or six months. They become alarmed when it is too frequent or continuous.
Hartal has become a part of our tradition and it has already been accepted as a basic democratic right. The question of abolishing hartal does not arise. In that case it might be institutionalised. It might be accepted as a proper means of protest but within certain rules and regulations. There are so many things that cannot be stopped but have to be regulated. An analogy may not be out of place. Islam did not abolish slavery. But it was so much discouraged and regulated that slavery was eliminated in no time. As a matter of fact Muslim rule is the only one in the history of mankind that flourished without slavery. Thousand years after the propagation of Islam along with colonialism slavery came into existence in a big and profitable way. Even the richest superpower of today has its roots in slavery.
Legislating some rules regarding observance of hartal or by any other name it is called might help to reduce its impact or may even eliminate it. For example number of days of hartal might be limited to one or two days of a month no matter which ever party calls it. A rule like no property damage is allowed, should be in place. In case any property is damaged the loser, whoever he is, has to be compensated and the compensation must come partly from the government and partly from the party which called for the hartal. A rule like hartal cannot be called without a week or three days prior notice should also be in place. This is a common phenomenon that during hartal the government always makes fool of itself by propagating through the media that hartal was not successful and everything was close to normal. People make fun of it and easily conclude that parties and politicians are liars. Government looses credibility and respect in the eyes of the people. A rule like - 'on hartal day only a predetermined skeleton staff will open the offices and for others it will be closed day but next weekend i.e. Friday or Saturday will automatically become a working day. This simple promise that hartal or no-hartal the required working hours per week have to be fulfilled will reduce the impact of hartal by a great extent. The same may be followed in schools and universities. As a matter of fact most English-medium schools and international organisations are already doing that. But any government has little chance of doing that because politicians do not want to displease the employees even when they are right and trying to get proper service from the government employees.
On a day of hartal people and politicians participating must be confronted by the administration. Anarchy and civil disobedience must not go unchallenged. It must be established that an order exists and any deliberate breach of order will be faced. But violence and bloodshed should be avoided at all costs. Police may have anti-riot gears but should not have firearms. When situation arises armed police might be called in. Government may never be indifferent and permissive towards any breach of discipline and unruly activity. Even on a hartal day a kind of rule of law must prevail.
If the government is serious in eliminating hartal I am sure ways and means can be found out. There is no reason why a civilised group of people will not be able to device means to keep things under control. The main question is, do the government and politicians really mean business or the suggestions to stop hartal is just leap service?
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