A day after the Union Cabinet approved the corporatisation of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), the Communist Party of India (CPI) on Thursday accused the Narendra Modi government of taking this “anti-people” decision under the cover of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a statement, CPI general secretary D. Raja said that at least five ministers in the past, including the late Manohar Parrikar, had asserted that the ordnance factories would not be corporatised. He called it an anti-national step.
“The decision of the Modi government to corporatise the ordnance factories will have a serious impact on the national security, defence preparedness and self-reliance of the country. Therefore, the Communist Party of India outrightly rejects and opposes the decision of the government,” he said.
The OFB had been split into seven entities to make it easy for the Modi government to sell it piece by piece, he alleged.
“The decision has been taken by putting pressure on the Chief Labour Commissioner [Central] to conclude the conciliation proceedings on June 15, 2021 and when three major trade unions who have given strike notice were not present in the conciliation meeting,” he added.
