Thousands of farmers and workers took to the streets in India on Tuesday, November 26 demanding minimum support price for their farm produce and preservation of labor rights in the country against the assaults from the pro-corporate government.
The protests were called by all a joint platform of central trade unions and Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), a joint platform of farmers groups formed during the 2020-21 farmers’ agitation against the three pro-corporate farms laws.
The central demands of the protesters include repeal of four labor codes introduced by the ultra right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during its second term in 2020 and a legally guaranteed minimum support price (MSP) for all farm products as promised by the Modi government during the 2020-21 agitation.
Thousands of farmers had surrounded the capital New Delhi for over a year in 2020-21 demanding the repeal of three farm laws brought by the Modi government. The SKM had claimed that those laws were brought in to favor big corporate houses in the agricultural sector at the cost of the millions of farmers. The government had initially resisted and refused to withdraw the laws but was later forced to do so. It was also forced to agree to bring in a law guaranteeing MSP for all crops which it has failed to do so till date.
#WorkerFarmerJointProtest in Murshidabad, West Bengal pic.twitter.com/GLnDyPXj2l
— AIKS (@KisanSabha) November 26, 2024
The Modi government introduced four labor codes, in 2020 replacing all existing laws related to workers. It claimed the codes would simplify the legal regimes related to labor in India and promote greater investments. However, all major central unions in the country have opposed the laws claiming they curtail basic labor rights including eight hours working day, social security and right to collective bargaining. Because of the opposition the government has failed to implement those laws four years after they were passed in the parliament. Workers have demanded their complete withdrawal.
Vijoo Krishnan, general secretary of the left-wing All India Kisan Sabha, a major constituent of the SKM told Peoples Dispatch that “workers and peasants came together in massive protests across more than 500 districts centers” in India “opposing the BJP-led NDA government’s aggressive pursuit of neoliberal economic policies and drive towards privatization.” He underlined that the four labor codes “snatch all hard won rights of the working class” and therefore must be withdrawn immediately.
National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is a broad alliance of right-wing parties led by the BJP in power.
Other major demands include, “a minimum wage of Rs. 26,000 per month, loan waiver for farmers, assured remunerative prices at C2+50% (50% above cost of production), 200 days of work with at least Rs. 600 per day as wages, social security pensions, food security, controlling price rise and other livelihood issues,” Krishnan pointed out.
SKM along with trade unions had campaigns across all districts in India for weeks in the run up of the protests on Tuesday. SKM had issued a leaflet detailing the overall economic and social condition in the country. It has claimed that the majority of workers and farmers in the country are forced to live in distress due to pro-corporate policies adopted by the Modi led government in India.
AIKS General Secretary Comrade Vijoo Krishnan addressed the #WorkerFarmerJointProtest at Patna, Bihar today. pic.twitter.com/zvK0tVjGvp
— AIKS (@KisanSabha) November 26, 2024
The Hindu supremacist BJP government has been accused by the left parties of collaborating with big corporate houses such as Adani and Ambanis in the country and making policies in their favor as “kickbacks.” These corporates are in turn backing BJP and its mother organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in their pursuit to impose a Hindu majoritarian polity in the country and dividing the working classes on religious and sectarian lines.
Noting BJP government’s sectarian character, Vijoo Krishnan, who is also a central committee member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) emphasized that the “united worker-peasant protest” was also against “the corporate-communal nexus” which runs the present Modi government endangering the secular polity in the country.
Krishnan told the press that if the government fails to take appropriate action to correct its ways in time such protests will continue and intensify in future.
