Aakrosh Diwas: From petitions to posts, netizens vehemently oppose Bharat Bandh

The Opposition parties have called for a Bharat Bandh on Monday, November 28, and are looking to observe Aakrosh Diwas — a day of anger — on that day because of the inconvenience caused to people in light of the demonetisation measure implemented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

However, social media, as always, seems to have a mind of its own. After flooding timelines and walls with note-fies — selfies with the new Rs 2,000 currency notes — netizens across India are now doing everything they can to show they are against this call for Bharat Bandh, and are more than willing to work on Monday.

The biggest of these online mobilisations against the Bharat Bandh seems to be a virtual petition on social activism platform Change.Org, which states that the proposed nationwide strike "will only cause disruption and loss to the people of India." It goes on to add: "Calling Bharat Bandh will be a huge loss for the traders, small businessmen and many other ppl who survive on daily wages. It will be an inconvenience for the working class. [sic]"

The petition, started by someone who identifies himself or herself just as "Common Man," also says: "I do not support any political party and only support the well being of our country and the country men. I am gonna follow my routine schedule as planned for that day. I will not let anyone decide for me. I just want to live peacefully." At the time of writing of this report, the number of signatories to the petition had crossed 10,000 and was rising fast.

Even otherwise, social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter were replete with images and status updates calling for boycott of the Bharat Bandh. Here are some of them: 

As is evident from these status updates — which are currently flooding social media platforms — people seem not only opposed to Bharat Bandh, but are also willing to work more to make it unsuccessful. It now remains to be seen how far they succeed.