The two recent strikes by doctors have set extremely dangerous precedents. In both cases, in Rajasthan and in Delhi, the authorities went down on their knees and yielded to the demands of the doctors. Stalemates were avoided, but what went out to the entire country were dangerous signals — blackmailing tactics work.
Around 1,200 doctors of Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital called off their strike on Wednesday after they were assured of more security. The doctors, including medical students, had gone on strike the previous day demanding deployment of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) jawans for the hospital's security after one of their female colleagues was heckled by relatives of a patient who succumbed to dengue. Yet, at the end of the day, it were hapless patients who bore the brunt of the doctors' extreme measure.
Earlier on Tuesday, resident doctors in Rajasthan called off their three-day strike after the state government assured them that it would take action on the lathicharge against some of them Jodhpur following a confrontation between doctors and relatives of patients. Doctors in 40-odd hospitals in Jodhpur began the strike on Sunday demanding action against senior police and administration officials, private and government doctors. The stir spread to hospitals in Jaipur, Kota, Ajmer and Bikaner districts. The toll figures vary from one news outlet to another, but 30-50 patients died as a result of the strike.
The issue in both cases were the same — that of security. Yet the doctors went on flash strikes, throwing all pretentions of their noble profession to the winds. There are such things as essential services, which include hospitals. These need to function, come what may, so that life does not come to a standstill. But that it did, and literally so for those 30-50 people in Rajasthan. The security argument can never be a justification for putting lives at stake.
The issue of security for doctors is legitimate, and needs to be addressed. A strike ought to be the last resort in a democracy after all other measures and means fail. Even a strike can be and is indeed a democratic tool. But when you start off with one instead, it degenerates into being a tool for blackmail. The doctors, both in Delhi and in Rajasthan, took recourse to this armtwisting tactic. And, of course, won the respective bouts hands down.
It is this bent of mind (that of blackmail) that sets the dangerous precedent. Yes, there have been such flash strikes earlier too in many places across the country, all that would have produced similar results. But as these are times of turmoil for the nation, let's talk of this day.
Pressure tactics do work in many cases, especially if those are related to a public service. So when errant autorickshaw drivers in Delhi announce a strike, the government has little to do but to give in. The public, of course, knows how much of a service these truant bunch are to society. Another lot are petrol pump dealers. Every few months they announce a strike. The government of day, the government of the state gives in. The petty businessmen go on strike because they want a better deal, and not because their hearts bleed for the consumers into whose fuel tanks they pour in adulterated concoctions.
It pays to pinch where it hurts. That's the message for all and sundry.
There are, however, other situations where strikes or bandhs don't work. Tuesday's dawn-to-dusk strike called by some major trade unions against the UPA government's labour policies and price rise disrupted the functioning of industries, banks and insurance offices, besides road transport and flight operations throughout the country. That's all. It made no other difference. It did not pinch the government. It only boomeranged on the trade unions in terms of public support.
In this light, look at the bandh or blockade calls given frequently in the Northeast. They hardly ever result in anything positive for those who call them. Those never make a semblance of a difference to those in power in the respective states or in faraway Delhi. If anything at all, they make the lives of ordinary people miserable. Making people lose a day's livelihood is not the best way to earn public sympathy.
All bandh/strike calls come with their share of sermonising. Columnists, commentators and corporates find a chance to speak out. The people are told how much of a blow these are against the GDP of the country. What balderdash! As if GDP talk matters to the people. These economic guardians prattle out a lot of rubbish. Yet there are some threads that run common through all such sermons. For one, they are rabidly anti-labour. Second, they tomtom incessantly about how these incidents scare away investors. Third, these lectures nowadays come interspersed with some legalese, all pointing to the Supreme Court's strictures against strikes. It is no court's business to take away a democratic right. They are there to guard these rights.
But there are lessons for those who call for strikes. Make sure that it pays the dividend. Or else, it will backfire on you even if the demands are genuine. Unless you are like those doctors of Rajasthan or autorickshaw drivers of Delhi.
