Report of correspondent of Mazdoor Ekta Committee
Crores of workers and working people of our country participated in the All India General Strike organised on 12 February by trade unions and other workers’ organisations and kisan organisations.
There were mass rallies of workers and working people in almost every district of the country. Factory workers, mine workers, electricity sector workers, petroleum sector workers, rail and road transport workers, dock workers, bank and insurance workers, defence sector workers, IT workers — all participated in the strike to show their complete opposition to the four anti worker labour codes, and other anti-people measures passed by the government. Apart from demanding the repeal of the four anti worker labour codes, workers demanded that all those who have to sell their labour power in order to live, must be recognized as workers and guaranteed their rights as workers. Kisan organisations extended their full support to the General Strike.
The strike was widespread in the banking and insurance sector.
Coal India Limited and its subsidiaries were almost completely shut down in Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and West Bengal. Singareni Collieries in Telengana was also shut down.
Electricity workers braved the threat of the authorities and went on strike in Tamilnadu, Kerala, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.
Port and Dock workers went on strike, bringing operations in many ports to a halt, including Paradip Port (Odisha), Kakinada Port (Andhra Pradesh), Kamarajar port and Tuticorin Port (Tamil Nadu), Cochin Port (Kerala) and Calcutta Port (West Bengal).
Workers in heavy industry, engineering, automobiles, participated in the strike in a big way. In the Sriperumbudur industrial belt of Tamil Nadu, many companies including multinationals reported severe disruption of production. Cement factories in Madhya Pradesh were shut down. Industrial areas in Gujarat, Telengana, Maharashtra and Karnataka reported massive work stoppages.
IT workers held a militant demonstration in Bengaluru, defying police repression.
ASHA, Anganwadi and other scheme workers participated in a massive way in many states of the country.
In the capital Delhi, after organizing rallies in different industrial areas in the morning, a mass rally was organised at Jantar Mantar in the afternoon. Representatives of workers’ and peasants’ organisations addressed the rally. They pledged to step up the united struggle of workers and peasants against the four labour codes and all other attacks on the livelihood and rights of workers, peasants and other working people. Amongst those who addressed the Delhi rally were Amarjeet Kaur of AITUC, Sudip Dutta of CITU, Hannan Mollah of Samyukta Kisan Morcha, Harbhajan Singh of HMS, R K Sharma of AIUTUC, Santosh Kumar of Mazdoor Ekta Committee, G Devarajan of TUCC, Rajiv Dimri of AICCTU, Shatrujit Singh of UTUC, Viju Krishnan of AIKS, Narender of ICTU, Venkat of All India Agricultural Workers Union and Gulzar Singh Goriya of Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union.
The February 12 All India General Strike shows that the workers and working people of our country are determined to defend their rights in the face of the ferocious attacks of the ruling capitalist class and its government.
Life experience has confirmed again and again that it is the capitalist class that is ruling our country. The agenda of this class is to enrich itself at the fastest possible pace by intensifying the degree of exploitation of workers, and the robbery of the kisans. It is this agenda that is implemented by every government, irrespective of which political party of the ruling class is given charge of running the government. The capitalist class is the decision maker in our country today.
In order to reorient the economy from its present orientation of fulfilling the drive of the capitalist class for maximum profits, to fulfilling the ever-growing needs of the whole of society, we workers, peasants, and other working people need to become the decision makers. For this, we must wage the struggle with the aim of replacing the rule of the capitalist class with the rule of workers and peasants.