‘Political parties should rethink before calling hartals’

Political parties should do a rethink before calling hartals as they severely affect people's lives, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi said.

Political parties should do a rethink before calling hartals or other forms of protests as they severely affect people’s lives, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi said on Monday.

“Protests can be made but all political parties should ensure that hartals are not called for anything and everything,” he said, participating in a function organised by Calicut Press Club to present media awards in Kozhikode.

Noting that such protests not only paralysed normal life but also affected welfare of society to a great extent, he said that the public had started protesting against such ‘unwarranted’ protests.

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Earlier, taking part in another function at Vatakara near here, Ravi said that the government would bring in stringent measures to check the activities of illegal job racketeers, who swindled money from people aspiring for jobs abroad.

“It has come to the government’s notice that several illegal agents are cheating job-seekers of huge sums after assuring them jobs in the Gulf,” he said, adding that stern action was being proposed against them.