Days after the government eased FDI norms in 15 sectors to attract investment, the RSS’s workers’ wing, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), has hit out at the policy.
“FDI study reports pertaining to 2011-12 prove that eight times the money that came in as FDI has gone out as foreign direct outflows in many ways like royalty payments made, professional and consultancy charges paid, etc.,” BMS general secretary Virjesh Upadhyay told The Hindu .
“The government should come out with a white paper on this issue. In its absence, we don’t think that FDI is contributing to our economy in any way.” He said the economy would not grow quickly unless purchasing power increased. This would require higher wages and permanent jobs instead of contractual employment.
Mr. Upadhyay said labour laws were required, even if some were outdated and overlapping.
Mr. Upadhyay claimed that foreign companies followed labour laws neither of India nor of their own countries. There have been reports that the government has been looking to fast-track labour law reform.
“Why should Indian industrialists invest in countries where labour laws are there if they are a hindrance to economic activity?” BMS north-central zone organising secretary Pawan Kumar asked. “We believe in the ease of life rather than the ease to do business.”
Set up by an RSS functionary Dattopant Thengadi, the BMS has been a large workers’ union affiliated to the Sangh.
Its language has generally sounded left-of-centre, though many have seen it as lacking a determined road map to alter policy when the BJP is in power. However, Sangh-affiliated workers’ and farmers’ unions can claim some credit for making the Centre go back on an altered land acquisition Bill that would have made it easier for industry to acquire farmlands.
Some RSS fronts – like the BMS, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh and even the Swadeshi Jagran Manch – made noises against economic reforms since the days of the Vajpayee government, though the BJP’s economic policy when in power remained pro-liberalisation.
“Opposition is best when it comes from within,” a BJP leader once told reporters, suggesting that the party could negotiate the pitfalls of opposition from within Sangh ranks.
