New Delhi: The protest, against the annulment of labour laws by some Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled states, started amid lockdown on Wednesday as eight political parties stood in protest in the national capital while maintaining the social distancing norms.
The group consisting of eight political parties had written to the President of India last week demanding his immediate intervention on the issue of alterations in labour laws by some states and also on the issue of migrant labourers during the nationwide lockdown.
The conglomerate of eight political parties includes the CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML), RJD, RSP, AIFB, JD, LJD and the VCK. The leaders of all eight parties gathered at the CPI(M) headquarter in Delhi and stood in protest with hanging boards and posters.
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Prominent leaders like Sitaram Yechuri, D Raja, Sharad Yadav, Manoj Jha and Deepankar Bhattacharya represented their respective parties and unanimously opposed the suspension of labour laws by BJP ruled states in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.
It is being said that other states are also gearing up for major changes in labour laws to attract more investments into their region in order to fill up the revenue deficit they have suffered due to sudden outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic resulting in the call for a nationwide lockdown.
"The government is using pandemic to implement their own agenda of favouring corporates and big companies by suspending labour laws which are not at all in favour of working people of this country..rights of the working class which they gained after a long fight are being snatched from them which is unacceptable...during the lockdown, migrant labourers are facing hardships but PM Modi hardly talked about them during his address to the nation," said Sitaram Yechuri, General Secretary of CPI (M).
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"Those who protested peacefully against CAA and NRC are being arrested under provisions of strict laws like UAPA and NIA, more than 14 crore people have lost their jobs during the lockdown but the government is only playing polarisation politics" he added.
Senior politician and leader of Loktantrik Janta Dal (LJD), Sharad Yadav also lashed out at Modi government alleging the government of ignoring the plight of labourers.
"The labourers and farmers are the foundation of this country, what is happening today never happened in the past 70 years..the government delayed everything and therefore this pandemic spread to such a large extent," he said.
The general secretary of CPI, D Raja said that the purpose of the protest was to send a message to the people across the country and a message to the government, during this lockdown period the worst sufferers are poor people but now the government is trying to attack them with the dilution of labour laws.
It is to be noted that all the leaders of eight political parties demanded income, medical and food support for the labourers from government and also urged that the labour laws should not be touched by the state governments.
Also Read: Where does India’s workforce stand amid COVID-19 and compromised labour laws?
