Editorial
A thought in the right direction
Opposition veering away from hartal, siege?
We are happy to learn that the Opposition may be seriously considering a change in its agitational strategy. Apparently, the thought was triggered by the spontaneous response it received from the public during its five-day street marches that also ended peacefully without any untoward incident. Their earlier programmes of hartals did not meet with similar success. Already, the frequency of hartals has been noticeably lessened. We now also hope that we shall no longer see 'sieges', too. We are also happy to see that no less than the leader of the opposition has instructed her senior party colleagues to find out suitable ways to attract greater and spontaneous participation of the people at large in the rallies. Needless to say, we have seen in the past how both hartals and sieges disrupted the day to day lives of the people in addition to causing serious clashes between the activists and the law enforcing agencies including loss of public and private properties. On occasions there has been loss of lives, too. We wholeheartedly welcome this positive thinking on the part of the opposition and sincerely hope that this will now serve as a trendsetter for all our political parties and politicians from here onwards. As the election draws nearer, we are bound to see more and more street programmes and campaign processions by both the opposition and the ruling coalition so that the importance of peaceful marches can hardly be over-emphasised. Let good sense prevail and peace and tranquillity rule supreme in our civic lives.
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