On the second day of the historic protest by workers of the Central Trade Unions and independent federations on Friday, more than 70,000 workers from the States of Bihar, Odisha, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and people from all over the country of unorganized sector and so on assembled in the Parliament street to vent their anger against the all-round failure of the NDA government.
The three-day Maha Padav, after an impressive start on November 9 continued with more vigour. All the hues sent out one unanimous strong message that this is not just ‘yet another protest’ of the workers and if the NDA government continues to ignore the genuine demands of the workers, the Central Trade Unions will intensify the protests that may paralyze the whole country.
Speaking on behalf of AITUC, Comrade Amarjeet Kaur, Secretary, AITUC said, “the 1,00,000 strong force of workers in the Parliament Street sent a decisive message to the Modi Government to get ready to quit”. Castigating Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “Rashtra Virodhi”, Kaur went on to expose the economic policies that are aimed at selling the wealth of the nation created by the sweat, blood and toil of the workers to his capitalist cronies. All the achievements that the country has made are the comprehensive result of the people’s labour.
“The nation that is built by the people is sought to be destroyed by the anti-national policies of the NDA government”, she said. “Economy is in doldrums. Unemployment is on the rise. Price rise is acute. Workers do not get even the minimum wages. But the government adds to the miseries by making linking of Aadhar mandatory for ration. In the name of ‘Food security ’millions have been rendered ‘food insecure’.
Making a blast at the ‘nationalist’ crusade that the Modi government plays, Amarjeet charged the ruling BJP as betrayers in the freedom movement and have no moral authority to question the workers’ nationalism. This crowd she said sends the signal that Indian workers stand united to save the country and this is demonstrative display of the unity of the people of India”, said Amarjeet.
The three-day relay protests is likely to swell further in ranks on the third day on November 11 when the scheme workers such as Anganwadi, ASHA, Midday meals and workers from the construction and beedi sectors will join. This Mahapadav is one of the historic protests of Indian workers expressing their well reasoned anger. The NDA government may do well to heed to the voices of the workers lest there will be intense actions of protests that may not augur well for the government. Further course of action will be given out from the platform of protest on Saturday the last day of this massive event.
Com. Gurudas Dasgupta was present. The major other speakers were Sanjiva Reddy, President INTUC, Debanjan Chakraborthy, CITU, K. Govindan, AITUC, Ramakrishna Panda, AITUC, including speakers from ten Central Trade Unions and Federations. Harbhajan Singh Siddu of HMS, Sukumar Damle of AITUC and eight others were in the presidium. (NSS)