By Sampada A. Khatiwada
Kathmandu, Feb. 5: Amrita Gharti, 36, a resident of Borhatar, in Kathmandu, was taking her mother to Sahid Gangalal National Heart Centre for a routine checkup on Thursday morning. She was unaware of the general strike announced by the Nepal Communist Party’s (NCP) Prachanda-Nepal faction.
“We requested a taxi driver to drop us at the hospital. While we were on the way, some people asked us where we were heading. They must be the shutdown enforcers,” said Gharti, adding, “As I told them that we were visiting the hospital, they let us go.”
Although she peacefully visited the hospital, along with her mother, Gharti couldn’t find any public vehicle while returning. “We waited for an hour outside the hospital but we didn’t find any vehicle to return home. I along with my 76-year-old mother, who is a heart patient, had to return home on foot,” said Gharti.
She added, “It is said that demonstrations, strikes, and rallies are held for the benefit of people, often against the wrong steps taken by the government. But it is us, the people who suffer the most from strikes.”
Like Gharti, many people across the nation had to face hardships and losses. Shyam Shrestha, a taxi driver, said, “I had thought that the strike would last only for a few hours in the early morning. But as soon as I heard that a taxi was torched at Samakhusi, I decided to not drive my vehicle today.”
“Owing to the strike, I couldn’t earn a penny today. The demonstrators should understand that daily wage earners like us have a family to feed and many have to sleep with empty-stomach due to their strike.”
Shrestha added that people’s lives would not be affected if the political parties opposing the government sought other alternatives to protest.
Likewise, Ramesh Pathak, 27, who had walked up to Balaju from Sitapaila to observe the protest said, “It is the right of people to demonstrate against the government. But it does not mean that they can demonstrate by harming the general public. We are healing from the damage caused by the months-long lockdown, organising bandas will only aggravate that,” said Pathak, adding “We should enjoy our rights but without hampering the others.”
“Strikes and shutdowns are of no benefit. Neither to the organisers, nor to the government and public,” Pathak said. “I am against the Prime Minister’s decision to dissolve the house. But I am also against Nepal Bandas.”
Meanwhile, a group of people holding the banner with ‘Independent Aware Citizens’ written on it demonstrated against Nepal Banda at Maitighar on Thursday. Stating that shutdowns would not benefit anyone, they requested the shutdown enforcers to put an end to Banda forever.