Coincidence or otherwise, Kerala remained virtually shut down during the past two years on September 2. This year too it is going to be the same. In 2014, it was because of a Statewide hartal called by the Bharatiya Janata Party and last year as part of a nationwide general strike called by trade unions. This year, it is because of the latter reason.
The BJP and other Sangh Parivar organisations had called for the Statewide hartal on September 2, 2014, to register protest against the murder of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh activist Elanthodath Manoj at Kathiroor in Kannur district. The hartal had disrupted normal life in Kerala and in some districts there were reports of violence.
Kerala remained shut down on September 2, 2015, because of the one-day nationwide general strike called by trade unions in protest against the proposed changes in the labour laws moved by the Centre. While the public transport system, including buses and autorickshaws kept off roads, banks too remained closed.
On September 2 this year, trade unions have called for an all India general strike to protest against “the Union government’s anti-people economic policies and anti-worker labour reforms”. Bank employees are joining the strike this time too. The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, the trade union wing of the BJP, had kept away from the September 2, 2015 general strike and is staying off this year too.
