Bharat Bandh: Trade Unions accuse Centre of diluting worker rights; demand rollback of new labour codes
Scores of people walked the streets across the country, carrying their trade union flags and slogans, and presented their demands through a 17-point charter. The trade unions have accused the Centre of diluting workers' rights, alleging that the central government is pushing economic reforms without considering the impact on workers.
The Bharat Bandh, General Strike was earlier called on May 20, however trade unions decided to defer the call to July 9, keeping in mind the escalating hostilities between India and Pakistan following the Pahalgam attack on April 22 in Jammu and Kashmir, and India's decisive reply with Operation Sindoor launched on May 7, targeting terrorist bases in Pakistan.
Workers across the country, including in Delhi, Odisha, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal, presented their demands, with multiple political parties also voicing support for the strike.
The protests saw varied responses from people from across the country. As Kerala saw multiple shops shut down, transport services affected, the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu saw bus services resume shortly after today. State-run buses in West Bengal saw their services affected today.
Meanwhile, in Bihar, Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) also attended a 'Bihar Bandh' rally, raising the issue of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls being carried out in Bihar.
Several senior leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc, including CPI General Secretary D Raja, CPI (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation leader Dipankar Bhattacharya, Bihar Congress President Rajesh Ram, Kanhaiya Kumar, and Sanjay Yadav, also participated in the protest.
Congress leader and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi alleged the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is trying to repeat 'voter theft' in Bihar, just like in the Maharashtra assembly elections.
'The way there was vote theft in the Maharashtra elections, a similar attempt is being made in Bihar,' the Congress leader said.
Gandhi also raised questions over the rise in voter numbers between the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Maharashtra, alleging that all newly added votes went to the BJP. He claimed that the INDIA alliance's poor performance in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, despite a Lok Sabha majority, prompted a deeper data review that revealed suspicious voting patterns.
Notably, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, also present at the rally, criticised the Election Commission of India for its decision to revise electoral rolls, calling it a 'Godi Aayog.'
Yadav accused the NDA alliance of using the Election Commission of India to remove the name of 'Bihar's poor people' from the voter list.
Congress workers, while participating in the bandh, lay down on the road to block vehicles in Patna.
In West Bengal, clashes erupted during the Bharat Bandh rally. In the Naxalbari area, Trinamool Congress (TMC) and trade union leaders clashed with each other. Meanwhile, in Kolkata, the Police removed protesters from the street to allow a bus to pass through.
On Bharat Bandh, TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said, 'Where was Bharat closed, Bengal was fully operational. Public life was fully normal... There was traffic on the roads... If 10-12 people try to block the road, then what will the police do? They tried to remove them normally...'
In Odisha's Bhubaneswar, the ten central trade unions were joined by the Biju Janata Dal (BJD)'s trade wing, 'Biju Shramik Samukhya,' protesting weakened workers' rights.
BJD leader Prafulla Samal, while participating in the rally, told ANI, 'The labour organisation of BJD not only supports the protest but has also done the work to make this protest successful... The government at the centre and state is against the workers... The govt has not done anything for the workers... Now they have converted the 44-level law of labour into the four labour codes, which only benefits the owners.'
Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader said that this is the 32nd general strike in the history of independent India.
'This will be another historical strike since the last 32 years of the new liberal policy, and it is the 23rd general strike of India... The BJP government has converted four labour codes out of 29 labour laws in the name of ease of doing business. The minimum wage for all categories of workers must be Rs 26,000 per month. For MANREGA, we demand that there should be 200 working days and Rs 600 wage per working day,' the CPI(M) leader said.
Congress leader Randeep Surjewala highlighted in Karnataka how over 25 crore protesting workers are carrying out the Bharat Bhand due to the unavailability of jobs in the country.
'Over 25 crore workers and farmer unions are participating (in Bharat Bandh). Bharat Bandh because BJP's new translation is B for 'Band Karo', J for 'Jobs Chheeno' and P for 'Phasad Karvao'... The principal issue is there are no jobs for the young in the country - 30 lakh jobs are vacant, but the government refuses to fill them... The unemployment rate has crossed 30% and at a 45-year high... Budget of MNREGA has stagnated,' Surjewala said in Bengaluru.
While in Jharkhand's Ranchi, Congress's Rajesh Thakur said, 'Now people have no work to do, people are now spreading rumours in panic because of how successful the Bharat Bandh yatra was. There is nothing special about who climbed the truck and who did not. It is clear that when we go out for the public interest, then we don't see whose stage it is... BJP workers keep spreading such types of rumours.'
On March 18, 2025, before the Trade Unions decided to defer the strike to July 9, the National Convention of Workers, organised by the Central Trade Unions and Independent Sectoral Federations and Associations, adopted a Declaration with a call for a two-month-long campaign to culminate in a Nationwide General Strike on 20th May 2025.
The event, organised at Delhi's Pyare Lal Bhawan, had representatives from multiple Central Trade Unions across states, looking to 'resist against the anti-worker, anti-farmer and anti-people policies of the BJP government,' according to a statement from the All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU).
'Voices rose in unison, in a chorus of condemnation against the central government that deliberately maintains more than a decade long deaf ear to the consistent demands of the Trade Unions on the one side and their collective rejection of its policies on the other,' the statement added.
'The convention sent out a scathing attack on the brazenly pro-corporate policies in favour of the crony capitalists, creation of monopoly and duopoly capitalists that are detrimental to the working people and overall economic well-being of the country,' the statement read on March 18.
The Central Government in 2020 codified 29 laws into 4 Codes. The centre said the aim is to ensure workers receive security, along with respect, health, and other welfare measures, with ease. The new labour codes include the Code on Wages, Industrial Relations Code, Code on Social Security, and Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code.
A total of 10 CTU's, including the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), All India United Trade Union Centre (AIUTUC), Trade Union Coordination Centre (TUCC), Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), Labour Progressive Federation (LPF), and the United Trade Union Congress (UTUC) participated in the Bharat Bandh. However, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) affiliated Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) did not participate. (ANI)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
26 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Vadodara bridge collapse: BJP leadership busy in speeches, says Congress
The Congress on Thursday (July 10, 2025) slammed the BJP over the bridge collapse in Gujarat, saying the party's leadership and government have crossed all limits of indifference as they remain busy in making speeches and issuing advertisements in the name of "governance". The opposition party also alleged that there was a leadership crisis, corruption all around and incompetence prevailing under the BJP rule, and asserted that the people would give a befitting reply when the time comes. Fifteen people were killed as several vehicles plunged into the Mahisagar river after a portion of a four-decade-old bridge collapsed in Gujarat's Vadodara district on Wednesday morning, officials said. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, "Accidents have become a common thing in the country. Sometimes a train accident, sometimes a bridge developing cracks soon after inauguration. The country has not yet recovered from the plane crash and yesterday the news of a bridge collapse came from Gujarat," he said in a post in Hindi. Vadodara Bridge Collapse: Death Toll Rises to 13 "We have deep condolences for the families of the victims," Mr. Kharge said. Leadership crisis, alleges Kharge Three years ago it was said that the situation was "dangerous" due to "vibrations" in the bridge but still nothing was done, Mr. Kharge said, citing media reports. This is the seventh incident of bridge collapse in Gujarat since 2021, he said. "The BJP leadership and government have crossed all limits of indifference as they remain busy only in making speeches and issuing advertisements in the name of 'governance' in the whole country," Mr. Kharge said. "This is the result of leadership crisis, corruption all around, lack of ability to run the government, and incompetence," he alleged. It is hoped that the people of the country are seeing this and will give a befitting reply to it when the time comes, Mr. Kharge added. Death toll goes up The death toll in the collapse of the bridge over a river in Gujarat's Vadodara district has gone up to 15, officials said on Thursday. A slab of the Gambhira-Mujpur bridge, which connects central Gujarat to the Saurashtra region of the state, collapsed at around 7 am on Wednesday, as per officials. This caused the vehicles passing through the bridge to plunge into the river. Five out of the nine rescued persons suffered injuries and were undergoing treatment at the SSG Hospital in Vadodara. None of the injured persons was in a critical condition.
Mint
27 minutes ago
- Mint
Trump backs new Russia sanctions bill that could place 500% tariff on India
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he would strongly consider backing a new Russia sanctions bill that aims to force Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate an end to the Ukraine war. The bill, which was introduced in the US Senate earlier this year, proposes a 500% tariff on countries like India which purchase Russian energy products. 'I'm looking. It's totally at my option. They pass it totally at my option, and to terminate totally at my option. And I'm looking at it very strongly,' said Trump on Tuesday to reporters during a Cabinet meeting. The American leader also expressed mounting frustration at Russia's Putin for refusing to end the conflict with Ukraine. Trump recently directed the America's Defence Department to send more defensive weapons to Ukraine. The Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025 was introduced in the US Senate in April this year by Senator Lindsey Graham, a close political ally of President Trump. The bill proposes steep 500% American tariffs on goods and services exports from countries that purchase Russian-origin oil, natural gas, uranium and petroleum products. It also pushes for expanded sanctions against Russian businesses, government institutions and top policymakers. Senator Graham, who is steering the bill through Congress, has said the bill will target countries like India and China. 'I've got 84 co-sponsors for a Russian sanctions bill that is an economic bunker buster against China, India, and Russia for Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine. I think that bill's going to pass,' Graham said in a television interview in June. With President Trump's backing, the bill could move fast. Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune said there was 'a lot of interest' in the new Russia sanctions bill and said more announcements could be made later this week. The proposed bill allows the President of the United States to issue a one-time waiver of 180 days to a particular country in case ' the President determines that such a waiver is in the national security interests of the United States'. According to reports in the American media, the bill is being changed to allow the President to issue a waiver a second time. India was the second largest buyer of Russian fossil fuels in May , according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. It estimated that India purchased fossil fuels worth €4.2 billion from Russia in May, with crude oil amounting to 72% of the total. India is closely tracking the bill and the Indian Embassy is in touch with Senator Graham regarding the bill, said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar during his visit to Washington earlier this month. 'Regarding Senator Lindsey Graham's bill, obviously, any development, which is happening in the US Congress is of interest to us, if it impacts our interest or could impact our interest. So we have been in touch with Senator Graham. The embassy and the ambassador have been in touch. I think our concerns and our interests on energy security have been made conversant to him, so we'll then have to cross that bridge if we come to it,' Jaishankar told reporters in Washington.
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
29 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Cong slams BJP over Gujarat bridge collapse, says party busy in speeches
The Congress on Thursday slammed the BJP over the bridge collapse in Gujarat, saying the party's leadership and government have crossed all limits of indifference as they remain busy in making speeches and issuing advertisements in the name of "governance". The opposition party also alleged that there was a leadership crisis, corruption all around and incompetence prevailing under the BJP rule, and asserted that the people would give a befitting reply when the time comes. Thirteen people were killed as several vehicles plunged into the Mahisagar river after a portion of a four-decade-old bridge collapsed in Gujarat's Vadodara district on Wednesday morning, officials said. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, "Accidents have become a common thing in the country. Sometimes a train accident, sometimes a bridge developing cracks soon after inauguration. The country has not yet recovered from the plane crash and yesterday the news of a bridge collapse came from Gujarat," he said in a post in Hindi. "We have deep condolences for the families of the victims," Kharge said. Three years ago it was said that the situation was "dangerous" due to "vibrations" in the bridge but still nothing was done, Kharge said, citing media reports. This is the seventh incident of bridge collapse in Gujarat since 2021, he said. "The BJP leadership and government have crossed all limits of indifference as they remain busy only in making speeches and issuing advertisements in the name of 'governance' in the whole country," Kharge said. "This is the result of leadership crisis, corruption all around, lack of ability to run the government, and incompetence," he alleged. It is hoped that the people of the country are seeing this and will give a befitting reply to it when the time comes, Kharge added. The death toll in the collapse of the bridge over a river in Gujarat's Vadodara district has gone up to 13 with the recovery of two more bodies, officials said on Thursday. A slab of the Gambhira-Mujpur bridge, which connects central Gujarat to the Saurashtra region of the state, collapsed at around 7 am on Wednesday, as per officials. This caused the vehicles passing through the bridge to plunge into the river. Five out of the nine rescued persons suffered injuries and were undergoing treatment at the SSG Hospital in Vadodara. None of the injured persons was in a critical condition.
