Several trade unions on Monday called for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiv Sena and their alliance partners to be defeated in the Lok Sabha elections.
Under the banner of Trade Union Joint Actions Committee (TUJAC), representatives of several left-leaning trade unions such as the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, Indian National Trade Union Congress, All India Trade Union Congress and Hind Mazdoor Sabha criticised the BJP-led NDA for favouring the private sector, while trivialising workers and their rights.
“Earnings and unemployment have shown no signs of improvement in the country. It clearly appears that this government has no interest in protecting the rights of the common workers and labourers. Our fears of no ‘Acche Din’ have only been affirmed over these years,” Vishwas Uttagi, co-convenor of TUJAC, said.
M.A. Patil, leader of the Maharashtra Anganwadi Karmachari Kruti Samiti, said the rights of workers and labourers are being violated badly. “From security guards and State transport bus employees to anganwadi workers, the rights of several workers have been violated by the party during their tenure. They have also delayed their rights to them. This has to stop,” he said.
While the union representatives said they had had fruitful discussions about their demands with the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Community Party of India, Communist Party (Marxist), and Peasants and Workers Party of India, they did not want to engage with the BJP and Sena. “These (non-BJP-Sena) parties have included most of our demands in their manifestos. We are hoping they are fulfilled when they come to power. We do not accept anything from the BJP and Shiv Sena looking at their disastrous performance,” Mr. Uttagi said.
The newly formed alliance Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), led by Prakash Ambedkar, was not a viable option, Mr. Uttagi said. “The VBA is an alliance to simply split the votes. The Congress-NCP is an able force to defeat the BJP and Sena. The UPA, under the pressure of the Left, did good things and enacted laws for the benefit of the citizens. In UPA-2, when the Left was not a part of government, the changes that took place led to the alliance losing power,” he said.
