People's Democracy

KARNATAKA

Statewide Protest Against Attack On CPI(M) State Secretary

Workers Fight Police-Factory Owners Nexus

Balakrishna Shetty

THE police atrocities witnessed during the earlier Congress governments are continuing even today in Karnataka although the state is having a Congress-JD(S) coalition government in power. This time CPI(M) state secretary G N Nagaraj and CITU leaders Jagadish, Jayaram and Somashekar were also not spared by the police, which was doing the bidding of a factory owner. But the workers of Nanjangud, a small town in Mysore district, gave a strong rebuff to this repression by holding a united spontaneous industrial strike against the police atrocities. Their ire was particularly directed against the Deputy SP Thammiah and Sub-Inspector (SI) Pramod Kumar of Nanjangud rural police station who actively indulged in this atrocity. 
  
Several industries sprang up near Mysore and Nanjangud as the government offered huge concessions on land and taxes at the cost of common people. Almost all were taking advantage of cheap labour and depriving workers of their due benefits. And when workers organised themselves into unions and placed their demands under the banner of fighting organisations like CITU, the management resorted to repression with the help of the police. This has been continuing since several years.

USING PARTIAL LOCKOUT

Eastern Gengying is a Kolkata-based silk exporting company, which has been operating in Nanjangud for the last ten years. Ever since the union was formed about 4 years back, the management tried to curb workers activities. Around two and half months ago when a charter of demands was submitted to Gaurav Surekha, who is part of the management, he not only refused to settle the issue but also declared a partial lockout. Even the views of the local labour commissioner, who intervened in the dispute, were not respected.

The present strength of permanent workers in this company is 125, while casual workers number more than 350. Exploiting these casual workers who are paid only Rs 35 per day, the company was maximising its profits. And when the workers went with their charter of demands, the management used it as a ruse and declared a partial lockout. In the name of partial lockout all permanent workers were prevented from doing their jobs while the casual workers were employed to run the factory as usual. The workers resented the management’s cunning attitude and went on agitation path. Here, the police came to the rescue of the management and seven of the top leaders and activists of the union were arrested. The management with the help of the police has been trying to divide the employees between dalits and non-dalits. False cases were also booked with the active guidance from the management to punish the militant sections of the workers. This trend of suppressing workers struggle is in vogue in Bangalore also.

The state CPI(M) secretary G N Nagaraj who was on his way  Nanjangud on Party work, went to the Nanjangud rural police station to enquire about the arrested union activists. He was accompanied by CITU leaders Jagadish and Jayaram, general secretary and president of Mysore district CITU respectively and Somashekar, leader of CITU affiliated Vikrant Tyres Employees Union besides workers of the said factory. While they were discussing with the SI Pramod Kumar as to why the workers were arrested, three constables at the instance of their boss assaulted G N Nagaraj and others. Being enraged by the pro-management attitude of the police, the workers protested this attack on the leaders. Immediately, the workers were also beaten with lathis besides hurling abusive language.

All the leaders were unlawfully confined up to  midnight. They were not allowed to use their mobile phones, leave alone the telephones in the station. Even the driver of the rented car in which G N Nagaraj and others travelled was not allowed to leave the police station. Only after the SP reached the police station from Mysore, which is about 25 km away, because of the protests and pressures from various quarters, the leaders were released on self-bonds. Such was the power of the money thrown by the factory owners.

This is not the first time that the police officials in that station took an openly anti-worker approach. Earlier, in several disputes between workers and the management the police always suppressed the rights of the workers.

BIG PROTEST

The police atrocities on the CPI(M) and CITU leaders evoked a strong protest not only in Nanjangud but throughout the state. At Nanjangud total industrial strike was observed by the workers affiliated to CITU as well as by entire unionised and non-unionised workers of the area. From the morning itself they assembled before the police station and shouted slogans against the police, factory owners and the government. More than thousand workers gathered for this dharna. They demanded immediate suspension of the SI, action against DSP and non-interference of the police during the peaceful agitation of the workers. Many workers came from far away places to join this protest. Many demonstrations were held throughout the state – Mysore, Tumkur, Malavalli in Mandya Dist, Gulbarga, Bellary, Bijapur, Bangalore, Hassan and other places against the harassment meted out to Party and TU leaders.

In Bangalore, the protest before the chief minister’s house was led by Nityananda Swamy and Prasanna Kumar, both state secretariat members of the CPI(M) and Prakash, Bangalore district secretary, EKN Rajan, Meenakshi Sundaram and other CITU leaders. They demanded immediate suspension of the guilty officers pending enquiry and settlement of all the issues in favour of the workers. They further demanded that the police should not interfere in the peaceful agitation of the workers. They warned in unequivocal terms that if police-factory owners nexus continues, the present government would also face the same fate which their predecessor saw a few months back, i.e. biting the dust in the elections.

ENTHUSED WORKERS

The strong and united manner in which workers reacted to the police atrocity has generated enthusiasm among the workers who have pledged to continue their fighting unity. The SP of the Mysore district called the unions and the management for discussion on August 2, 2004 for amicable settlement of the issue. Although some of the issues were settled in this meeting, the struggle for basic demands will have to continue for which a broader struggle is necessary. 

(INN)