People's Democracy

THE April 16 all-India general strike against the anti-working class policies of the BJP-led NDA government at the centre was a resounding success in Andhra Pradesh. Workers and employees in the central and state public sector undertakings, workers in unorganised sector participated in full strength in this strike which was also against the ruinous policies of the state government.

The general strike was marked by rallies and dharnas in all the district headquarters and main towns under the banner of central trade unions. In Kurnool, the police resorted to indiscriminate lathicharge on the workers demonstrating peacefully against the anti-working class policies of the government and arrested about 400 workers and the CPI(M) corporator Nirmala.

With members of officers’ associations also participating in the strike, Banks, Insurance Corporations and Telephone offices were closed. The strike was near total in all the 11 central public sector undertakings in Hyderabad including ECIL, HCL, HMT, MIDHANI, IDPL and BDL. Employees and workers of the state public sector undertakings applied for mass casual leave and conducted dharnas. In the Indian Oil Corporation the strike was near total. In Singareni Collieries Company Ltd. the strike was total and an atmosphere of bandh prevailed in all the areas of the collieries. At Srirampur, raasta roko was organised under the banner of the Joint Action Committee. Though some unions did not participate, nearly 50 percent of the workers and employees of APSRTC participated in the strike leading to disruption in the road transport.

Workers of the unorganised sector - panchayathi raj, municipal, beedi, anganwadi workers, private transport workers and hamali workers also participated in the strike. For the first time, the Warangal market yard, the second biggest in Asia, was closed, with hamali workers and shop workers participating in the strike.

Though the national leadership of INTUC decided not to participate in the strike, several workers affiliated to that union in several industries, including SCCL, MIDHANI, IDPL, Vizag Steel Plant, Zinc factory, etc. participated in the strike.

Addressing a massive dharna of LIC employees at the Hyderabad division office, Koratala Satyanarayana, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member came down heavily on the anti-people and anti-working class policies of the central and state governments. He said that struggles against globalisation are on the rise in all countries and exhorted that these policies can be fought back only by wagin militant and united struggles of the working class and other sections of people.

Congratulating the working class of the state for making the strike a grand success, B V Raghavulu, secretary of the state committee of the CPI(M), demanded the central and state governments to give up their anti-working class policies. He appealed to the leadership of INTUC to change their attitude and join hands with other unions in the country-wide struggles.

CITU state general secretary, S Veeraiah strongly condemned the arrests of peacefully demonstrating workers in Kurnool and demanded their immediate release and action against the police. He said the response to the industrial strike was unprecedented and the strike was a success beyond their expectations.