LDF, UDF differ over effectiveness of general strikes as a modern political tool

The ruling front and the Opposition appeared divided on whether disruptive labour action, including Thursday’s national trade union strike against the Centre’s “anti-worker and pro-corporate” laws, was obsolete and an ineffective political tool in the modern social landscape. 

The dispute gained currency, with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State secretary M.V. Govindan accusing the Congress of reining in the party’s trade union, the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), from joining the ‘workers’ struggle.’ 

Tale of two Yatras

Mr. Govindan alleged that the Congress had repeatedly sacrificed the welfare of the working class at the altar of corporate interests and electoral politics. He noted that the Left Democratic Front (LDF) had postponed by a day its Vikasana Munnetta Jatha to express solidarity with striking workers across the country. 

In contrast, Mr. Govindan said, Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan has pushed ahead with the UDF’s Puthuyuga Yatra. Mr. Govindan said the Congress seemed not to care that the Centre’s labour codes imperilled workers’ rights, and the BJP had dismantled the MGNREGS, which benefited the rural poor. 

Mr. Satheesan said Kerala was an outlier when analysing the impact of general strikes geographically. “In Kerala, the trade union strike became a crippling bandh. In contrast, it has made no impact in other States,” he said, calling for a public debate. 

Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Shashi Tharoor wrote on X that “it is a lamentable irony today’s Bharat Bandh is in reality, merely another, Kerala Bandh”. He stated that Kerala remained “uniquely held hostage by this organised tyranny of the minority over the unorganised majority, while the rest of India has evolved beyond such coercive disruptions”. 

He wrote that, “militant unionism, which extends from factory floors to our very streets, has tarnished Kerala’s reputation and driven away investors”. Mr. Tharoor said the inalienable right to protest should not backslide into a right to disrupt. 

CITU stance

Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) national general secretary Elamaram Kareem countered that labour action had immense contemporary relevance at a time when corporations were pushing for 12-hour days, six-day weeks, contract employment, and the lack of benefits, including provident fund, pension, and medical coverage. “Naysayers should remember that equal pay for men and women, eight-hour days, holidays, minimum wages, and the right to remuneration are the fruit of hard-fought labour struggles,” he said.