Pulluvazhy, a village near Perumbavoor in Ernakulam, is typical of the Kerala countryside where life goes by at a laidback pace. The only difference that sets it apart from the rest of the State is that it simply refuses to stop work during hartals — a rare distinction for a place that boasts a rich Communist heritage.
On Saturday, while life remained paralysed in the rest of the State, it was business as usual for people in this hamlet. Over the last two-and-a-half decades, all the shops in this village with the Pulluvazhy Junction on MC Road as its core area, have remained open on hartal without fears of stone-pelting while the villagers plied their trade.
“Though people in the village have strong political affiliations, no political party dares to enforce hartals and bring life to a standstill,” said Joy Poonelil, former president of Rayamangalam gram panchayat. Taking a cue from the Pulluvazhy model, even the neighbourhood village in the panchayat have begun to challenge calls for hartal and to continue with work as usual on all days.
“Having earned repute for its anti-hartal stance, the shops here including a couple of banks, are the only resort for people including those travelling through the M.C. Road,” he added.
According to E.R. Mohanan, who runs a shop at Pulluvazhy Junction, the two occasions when the village had downed shutters were when Communist leaders P. Govinda Pillai and P.R. Sivan died.
“The shops were shut as a mark of respect to the two great personalities the village has produced and not due to any form of compulsion,” he said.
The old-timers also recall how they had brandished logs to drive away activists of a political party who were trying to enforce a bandh during the period of crisis over the Babri Masjid demolition.
The villagers are of the opinion that there is no need to stop their daily activities for the sake of any political party. Identifying the need to expand its campaign elsewhere, the village is now looking to replicate the model.
