Thiruvananthapuram: Even though Kerala has been wooing tourists from around the world by promoting the state as ‘God’s Own Country’, hartals have often damaged the state’s reputation as a travel destination. Owing to the global pandemic and a judgment of the Kerala High Court, the state had not witnessed this extreme form of protest - when life comes to a standstill - for some time now. However, the long interval is all set to end on Monday, September 27, with the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government as well as the Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) supporting the strike call issued by various farmers’ organisations against the central government’s agricultural policies. The strike is certain to turn into a hartal and would, ironically, coincide with the World Tourism Day!
A big blow to tourism sector
The hartal would take place at a time when the state’s tourism sector is limping back to normal after suffering severe losses during the COVID-19 crisis. According to people in the sector, the hartal would send a wrong signal to tourists, especially from north India, eager to visit the state. This aspect was highlighted by central minister from Kerala V Muraleedharan also, who asked how tourism could develop in the state when nobody is allowed to step outside during the hartal.
“Apart from the tourism sector, other industries too are slowly coming back to life in Kerala now. Considering this situation, the hartal should not have been held,” said Riyaz Ahamed, managing director of Abad Hotels and Resorts.
“Hartals and bandhs severely cripple normal life only in Kerala and maybe in a couple of other places in India,” he pointed out.
“While the intention of the strike is just, I cannot support the means adopted,” Ahamed added.
Meanwhile, P K Aneesh Kumar, CEO of Travel Planners, said that the tourism destinations in Kerala are presently being visited by people from the state itself. “The number of Keralite tourists is rather limited. They mostly prefer to travel to some tourist spot on Saturdays or Sundays and leave on Monday morning. With the hartal scheduled on Monday, such tourists will either return on Sunday itself or cancel their trip,” he said.
After being paralyzed for nearly two years, the tourism sector in Kerala is now seeking every opportunity to revive itself. The World Tourism Day could have offered them such a big chance, according to stakeholders.
At present, the favourite destinations of domestic travellers hailing from Kerala are Wayanad and Idukki. “Tourists from other states are hesitant to travel to the state in view of the high incidence of pandemic cases here,” said Aneesh Kumar.
Political angle
Incidentally, the hartal on Monday indicates a political shift by the LDF too. Earlier, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and former state secretary of the CPM Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had stressed on several occasions that hartals would in no way affect normal life. While they hoped to correct the impression of Kerala as a place unfriendly to industries, no concrete measures in this regard followed.
246 hartals since 2017
As per data collected by an organisation named ‘Say No to Hartal’, Kerala witnessed 246 hartals since 2017. The figure includes national, statewide and local hartals. The numbers for each year are: 120 in 2017, 98 in 2018, 12 in 2019, 11 in 2020 and five so far this year.
The numbers fell during the COVID-19 crisis, but did not touch zero. In fact, 14 local hartals were staged in the state after the pandemic struck, mostly in Kollam, Wayanad, Alappuzha, Idukki and Kannur districts.
Court order
A major leash on this form of protest was a High Court ruling on January 6, 2019 which banned lightning hartals. The court ordered that a notice of at least seven days had to be issued before staging a hartal. Moreover, the organisations making the call had to bear the expenses of any damage caused during the hartal, said the court. The order also said that legislation should be enacted to check hartals. Based on the court order, Dean Kuriakose, state chief of the Youth Congress, had to face contempt of court proceedings for calling a flash hartal after the murder of two activists in Kasaragod.
