Widespread protests against anti-labour policies of govts

Dharna Chowk: As part of the All India general strike, trade union coordination committees of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh brought together a large number of employees for a massive protest at Dharna Chowk, Indira Park, on Wednesday. It started at 11 am and continued till 02.30 pm. More than 10,000 people from various employees' unions - CITU, INTUC, AITUC, IFTU, HMS, AIUTUC, TNTUC, CCGEN, AIDEF, Bank Unions, Gov. Employees Union & Journalist Forum - participated in the demonstration.

CITU Hyderabad president Eshwar Rao, CITU Telangana State president Sai Baba, INTUC Hyderabad president Adil Sheriff, TNTUC state general secretary Boss spoke about the anti-worker policies of the State and Central governments. The meeting strongly condemned and outrightly rejected the labour codes forwarded by Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Minister of Labour and Employment.

They stated that the entire labour codes were a master plan to impose slavery on the workers which was unacceptable to the trade union movement. The trade unions further warned that governments must take the message seriously and mend their ways and introspect on their anti-labour and anti-people moves, including those related to issues of unemployment, minimum wages and social security.

Palari Gopal, Sanath Nagar Industrial, president, CITU, said, "The present minimum wages of Rs 5,280 per month was not enough for a common man to survive, it must be raised to at least Rs 21,000 per month."

Terming the present government as anti-labour, Islamuddin, state secretary, INTUC, said, "They are continuing the same projects and initiatives of UPA, nothing new". He said that the health cards and other labour welfare programmes initiated by the government must be fulfilled as soon as possible.

Many student organisations such as SFI, AISF, United Students Federation Revolutionary and the present student council members and students of TISS, Hyderabad also came to Dharna Chowk to express solidarity with the protest. Bhagyasree, president of student's council, TISS Hyderabad said that they were totally against the NRC and CAA and have come here to extend their unflinching support for the movement. She also said that CAA was part of the Modi government's agenda to spread the bigotries of Hindutva and Hindu rashtra. This would affect the muslims as well as the marginalised sections of the society like dalits, adivasis, transgenders and sex workers. "As a student's union, they have a very strong feeling to oppose the Act as they form a part of the foundation of the society." She added.

Vamshi Reddy, District Joint Secretary, SFI, Karnool, Andhra Pradesh called for the unity of all Left collectives and organisations for a fight against the fissiparous forces. He also said that if we still continue to remain silent, another Germany or Gujarat would be repeated. "We will not leave, we will live in this country. This country is not theirs, it's ours." He claimed.

The presence of such a humongous gathering marked one of the strongest dissents against an Act in the history of Hyderabad.