The Hartal Virudha Koottayma, an anti-hartal collective of 92 organisations representing various segments of business across the State, has claimed that Thursday’s hartal caused a loss of business of ₹1,200 crore.

It also caused a damage of between ₹4 crore and ₹10 crore due to the vandalising of shopfronts, according to T. Naziruddin, chairman of the collective, who is also president of the Kerala Vayparai Vyavasayi Ekopana Samiti (KVVES), a leading traders' union.

The demurrage the business people would have to pay could go up to ₹100 crore, he claimed.

The Koottayma had asked its members to reject the call for Thursday’s hartal in line with its decision to observe 2019 as ‘anti-hartal year.’ Mr. Naziruddin claimed that the call was a ‘partial success’ as ‘10 to 25%’ of shops and businesses had opened.

“This is a very positive trend,” he told The Hindu. “The next hartal will see that a half of all businesses will open and four or five hartals down the lane, all the shops and businesses will gain the courage to reject the hartal call,” he said.

The fear of violence built into the minds of business people over the years was the main reason for the low level of response to the Koottayma’s call to defy Thursday’s hartal. “Next time, the situation will be different,” he hoped.

Solidarity

Referring to the vandalism by the hartal activists on S.M. Streeet in Kozhikode, he said the solidarity of the merchants in defending their shops collectively had helped lower the damage.

He recalled that he had spoken with BJP State president P.S. Sreedharan Pillai about the ‘anti-hartal year’ and told him that the traders were neutral about the Sabarimala issue. What mattered to them was the loss of business caused by frequent hartals, Mr. Naziruddin said.

According to Ernakulam reports, major trading hubs like Aluva saw businesses closing down immediately after the opening hours as hartal enforcers turned up in large numbers to force closure of shops.

Nazeer Babu of the Aluva Merchants’ Association said there was not enough police to help the traders who wanted to remain open for business on Thursday.

In Thiruvananthapuram, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the government was committed to providing protection to traders deciding to function on hartal days and the police would give them due protection.