Talk:Hartal

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I've edited the article because it was poorly written and not encyclopaedic in style. However an expansion is in order some time soon. --Antorjal 17:09, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Hartal in History Hartal was a weapon to force the king to be sensible. Hartal today means 'strike'. It seems to originate from the idea of putting a tala (lock) on the hatt (market). One such hartal in the past was in Surat where the merchants went on a hartal in 1669 to protest forced conversions by a qazi during the time of Aurangzeb. There were these cases of forced conversion by a tyrannical qazi in the city of Surat. At this the merchants decided to lock up the hatt and emigrted to Bharuch. All of the 8000 merchant families left. They remained in Bharuch for eight months. In the interim, the officers of the East India Company recorded, 'the people of Surat suffered great want... there was no provision to be got... the mint was shut down and the custom house'. There was no money to be had for household expenses and all trade was shut down. After eight months Aurangzeb relented and disciplined the qazi. It was only then that the merchants returned to Surat and restarted business. The Shaping of Modern Gujarat: Plurality, Hindutva, and Beyond — Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.89.93.195 (talk) 01:25, 13 July 2016 (UTC)