Hartal

Yesterday there was a hartal, a general strike, all across Bangladesh. These things tend to get violent, so we decided I should stay home and work from there just in case. There hasn't been a hartal here for 3 and a half years, and it didn't turn out too badly from what I've heard. Only a few people were injured in Dhaka, a few cars were set on fire, and no one died to my knowledge. Several prominent figures in the opposition party, the Bangladesh National Party (BNP), were preemptively detained to prevent mass chaos in the city. I don't really understand why exactly the BNP called a national strike; their reasoning was that the ruling party, the Awami League (AL), has failed to provide a consistent supply of water, electricity, and gas, and there was something about corruption in there as well. The corruption I don't doubt is common to both parties, so of course striking over that makes no sense. When the BNP was in power 3 or so years ago, they also could not provide basic services, so it's a little ironic they would complain about that now. More importantly, though is the fact that only about 30% of the population has access to electricity, and something like 95% get their water from individual tube wells, many of them not installed or maintained by the government. So I wonder, beside those in power, who really cares if there is a constant supply of water or electricity supplied by the government when most people don't have a supply to begin with?