The long-drawn struggle of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) workers assumes great significance “as saving VSP will pave the way for saving the other PSUs in the country,” CPI national secretary D. Raja has said.
Mr. Raja was in the city on Friday to participate in the State-level conference of the party.
The CPI leader called on the VSP workers who had been staging a relay hunger strike for nearly 240 days at Kurmannapalem here under the aegis of the Visakha Ukku Parirakshana Porata Committee opposing the Cabinet decision on strategic sale of the plant.
Addressing the workers, Mr. Raja lashed out at the “anti-worker, anti-farmer and anti-people policies” of the Modi government, and described it as a government “for the corporates and by the corporates” as it was bent on destroying the public sector, which he said was the “backbone of our nation.”
‘Modern temples’
Heavy industries had been set up during the tenure of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who had described them as “modern temples.”
Similarly, public sector banks had been asked to advance huge amounts of loans to the corporate sector, and the private promoters were turning “wilful defaulters,” plunging the banks into losses, Mr. Raja observed.
Recalling that the public sector banks were responsible for saving India during the global economic crisis in 2008, he said the Centre had recently announced the National Monetisation Policy, which could have disastrous consequences for the nation.
Farmers’ stir in U.P.
Referring to the alleged mowing down of farmers in Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Raja said it was unfortunate that any form of dissent against the government was not being allowed.
The farmers had been agitating for more than 10 months seeking repeal of the farm laws, but the Union government was not bothered, he alleged.
Recalling his visit to the Gangavaram Port in the past, Mr. Raja alleged that the Centre was now in the process of handing it over to the Adani Group. Similarly, airports were being handed over to “crony capitalists,” Mr. Raja alleged.
‘Unity is need of the hour’
He called upon all political parties and trade unions in Andhra Pradesh to unite against the “disastrous policies of the Modi government,” which would spell doom for the nation. He was optimistic that the united struggle would make the Centre reverse its decision on VSP.
Porata committee leaders D. Adinarayana, Mantri Rajasekhar, J. Ayodhya Ram, Gandham Venkata Rao, K. Satyanarayana Rao, A. Masen Rao, J. Ramakrishna, Gangavaram Gopi, and Neerukonda Ramachandra Rao, and corporator A.J. Stalin were among those present.
