EDITORIAL

Intensify Popular Struggles

THIS week has seen various popular struggles erupting in different parts of the country, particularly in Northern India.

Following the police brutality in Gurgaon, the determined struggle of the working class in the area has forced the Haryana government and the management of the infamous Honda factory to accept the genuine demands of the workers. The struggle for the larger issue of implementing the fundamental right of the workers to form the union of their choice, however, will continue to intensify. The governments both at the centre and in the states will have to learn the lesson that they cannot tacitly allow the implementation of the illegal “hire and fire” policy by not allowing the registration of trade unions. Apart from being the fundamental right of the workers to form the unions, the absence of unions in the background of blatant violation of the labour laws can only lead to anarchy and disruption. And, when this happens, the government must learn another lesson that the law enforcing forces cannot brazenly side with the owners and the management. It would, however, be naïve to assume that following the Gurgaon episode, the governments will automatically learn these lessons. The struggle to ensure that the workers rights are respected and legitimate trade union activity is allowed, will have to be undertaken in an arduous manner.

That the governments will not learn the lesson in the normal course became obvious when on July 31 thousands of workers rallied in the industrial town of Ludhiana in Punjab to demand that their unions be registered. The factory owners in Ludhiana have been resisting the registration of the unions and the state government and its labour commissioner continue to play their tune. The factory owners have in fact gone to the extent of petitioning the state government not to allow the registrations of the unions lest Ludhiana becomes another Kolkata. On the contrary, it would do Ludhiana and Punjab a lot of good if it transforms into another Kolkata. If the Japanese corporations have their largest investments in India in West Bengal, while following strictly the labour laws why cannot foreign and domestic capital do the same in Ludhiana? The law of the land is equally applicable to Kolkata as it is to Ludhiana or anywhere else in the country. The massive rally in Ludhiana served the notice to the government and the concerned authorities that the failure to recognise unions will be more detrimental for the future of Punjab and its people.

In neighbouring Rajasthan, a massive militant action of the kisans is going on. The demand is for the flow of adequate water to feed the crops. An agreement on this was reached between the state government and agitating kisans way back in December 2004. This was the result of a hugely popular militant action in the Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Bikaner belt bordering Pakistan. An agitation that claimed the lives of six martyrs and left scores injured.

The Rajasthan state government however, has failed to honour this agreement. This resulted in only 30 per cent of the crops being sowed due to shortage of water. The government’s plea that there is not enough water is completely false. In the upper reaches, there was surplus water which had to be drained into Pakistan in order to save the dams from being breached. This water however, could not flow to the kisans in this region of Rajasthan because the state government had criminally neglected the task of repairing the feeder canals. The water was thus wasted. In order to cover up its own lapses the BJP state government has mounted heavy repression against the agitating kisans. One of the popular leaders, CPI(M) state secretariat member, Hetram Beniwal, was brutally beaten and arrested alongwith hundreds of others. Protests against this erupted all over the state and massive kisan mahapanchayats are being held exposing the state government’s callousness and demanding that at least now the available waters must be able to reach the lands. If this is not done, then the standing crop, even though it is only in 30 per cent of the land, will fail. Instead of accepting these reasonable demands the state government is continuing with its repressive methods, seeking to prevent the kisans from agitating. Such an attitude however has never worked, nor is it working now. The kisans in the region are determined to continue their struggle and the coming days are bound to see more intense and militant actions.

All these popular movements point only in one direction. And that is the failure of the respective governments in meeting the genuine requirements of the people. Clearly, if the governments continue to protect those who violate the law of the land and continue to renege on their own previous agreements, then the people are left with no choice but to mount militant struggles. These struggles will have to be strengthened in the future all across the country in the defence of people’s interests and India’s economic sovereignty.

It is in this background that the CPI(M) central committee’s call for a countrywide movement on burning issues of jobs, food and land must be viewed. These struggles must force the respective governments both at the centre and in the states to uphold and safeguard the rights of the working people and implement the promises made for improving their livelihood and welfare. The Indian people can defend and improve their right to existence only by strengthening such struggles.