The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
Condemn Brutal Repression of Agitating Workers
The CPI(M) strongly condemns the brutal repression unleashed on agitating factory workers in Delhi NCR’s industrial belt by the BJP-ruled state governments of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
The workers have been engaged in a prolonged struggle for wage increase and the implementation of statutory benefits. Instead of addressing these legitimate demands, both the governments have let loose the police on the workers and resorted to filing false cases against workers’ leaders. They have even shamelessly insinuated that genuine protests are being instigated by external forces and branded workers’ leaders as conspirators.
Now it is being reported that the police are raiding villages, indiscriminately beating up workers and arresting hundreds of them. The whereabouts of the arrested workers are not being shared with their families. Com. Gangeshwar Dutt Sharma, Delhi state committee member of CPI (M) and Com. Ram Swarath, General Secretary of CITU Noida district committee have been under house arrest for the last few days.
Over the past two and a half months, workers across several parts of the country, especially in North India, have spontaneously risen in protest against inhuman working and living conditions, stagnant wages, denial of basic labour rights, and the callous, pro-management attitude of labour departments. The workers’ upsurge in the National Capital Region is the latest expression of this growing discontent.
The CPI(M) expresses full solidarity with the workers’ struggles, demands their immediate release and unconditional withdrawal of all cases filed against them. It calls upon the police and the respective state governments to put an end to all repressive and vindictive measures, and to address the workers’ legitimate demands through discussions with their representatives.