Kozhikode: Only football can bring Nainam Valappu, a coastal hamlet a ten-minute drive from Kozhikode City, to a standstill. Otherwise, these gutsy football-crazy village folks have never allowed anyone, not a single political party, to mess with their lives.
Nainam Valappu is the only place in the state that has refused to let 'bandhs' and 'hartals' stray into their area. And the ban has been in force for quite a long time, for over 45 years. It was not a cumulative long drawn out agitation by the coastal folk that eventually kept the 'hartal callers' at bay. Instead, it was the collective survival instinct of the village that decisively shut out 'bandhs' from their land. The village elders, who has youth had boldly stood up to the might of the political parties, say that it was the impatience, rather the desperation, to earn their daily livelihood that made them put their foot down around 45 years ago. Then, as now, theirs has been a 'hand to mouth' existence. They just cannot afford to lose a day's sales.
Most in the village are fishermen, potters (who peddle their creations in the nearby Valiyangadi), and small-scale merchants. They bank on their daily sales for buying food and will not be able to withstand a 'hartal' like others who can stock food. This was the main reason why we kept out 'hartals' that came this way, says resident Subair Nainamvalappu.
“The last hartal we remember happened more than 45 years ago, when our parents were young," Subair said. "The locals took rubber logs in their hands, and stood on the sides of the only two hotels in Nainamvalappu those days. Those who planned the hartal march through this place got wind of the anger of the villagers. They realised that there were chances of violence if the locals were provoked. They passed through the place but never returned,” says Subair. The anger was so intense then that the locals denied food to 'hartal' supporters and politely asked them to leave. Since then, Nainam Valappu has been 'hartal-free'. Those living in the nearby areas visit here for essential goods like vegetables or grocery when shops in the city downed their shutters for hartals.
More streets in Kozhikode are about to follow the Nainam Valappu example. In SM Street, one of the largest business centres in Kozhikode, the merchants have decided to keep their shutters open during future hartals. Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi, the biggest collective of merchants in the state, too have expressed it strong dissent, saying the frequent hartals were breaking the back of businesses that were badly hit by the floods. Samithi general secretary Raju Apsara had stated that the ancient means of protests would only destroy the business and in the long run pull the state as well as the country backward. “Political parties should be careful while choosing their means of protest. It should not only harm the public but should also seem convincing," he said.
The Samithi will convene an urgent meeting of all the organisations of merchants on Thursday (December 20), in Kozhikode, to decide on a collective strategy
