Forum calls for mock strike against poor rain

Palakkad (Kerala): With the failure of the monsoon, the people of Palakkad in Kerala had a taste of a strike with a difference. Though the mock strike was called against the poor rains, it actually mocked Kerala's politicans.

Munnottu, a Palakkad forum that called for the strike, says it’s unfair that they haven’t received any rainfall after the initial burst this year.

“For years we have had plenty of rain but this year the rains have failed us,” president Munnottu M N Anuvaruddin says.

“The pressing problem for every Keralite right now is the missing rainfall. So we have decided to protest the callous attitude of the rains,” he adds.

Protesting against the weather surely is an unusual approach but Munnottu's really trying to prove a larger point.

The true target of its strike on Friday was strikes themselves, something that the Kerala's politicians are known to call for quite regularly.

“Every week or month we have strikes at the panchayat or the state level. The politicians have taken it as their birthright. The people have also started celebrating it. It’s taken as a national holiday,” Anuvaruddin says.

Though politicians are more vocal and strictly enforce bandhs, Munnottu broke convention — roads were crowded, shops remained open and traffic flowed as usual.

So while the politicians may ignore the mock hartal, they can’t mistake its mocking tone.

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