Claiming that Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee had threatened to disband trade unions and oppose strikes if her party, along with its ally, the Congress, was voted to power in West Bengal, Shyamal Chakraborty, the president of the State unit of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) said here on Sunday that her remarks indicated she represented the interests of factory owners, not that of workers.
Mr. Chakraborty, who addressed a rally in the city to commemorate May Day, said: “Workers of West Bengal had struggled for their rights from the times of the British Raj. They have sacrificed much for the right to form trade unions and organise strikes.”
He said that in the period between 1972 and 1977 before the Left Front government came to power, many trade unions had been disbanded as was being threatened now by the Trinamool.
“She [Ms. Banerjee] is making such statements even before coming to power. Not even Hitler or Mussolini had made these comments before coming to power; they had done so only after they attained power,” Mr. Chakraborty, who is also a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), said. “Her views on trade unions and strikes clearly show that she is on the side of the owners, not the workers who toil in the factories,” he said. “The people of West Bengal do not need another Hitler or Mussolini.”
