RSS-backed labour wing calls for protest against govt’s privatisation drive on 10 June

The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), the labour wing affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), plans to organise a nationwide protest on 10 June against the Central government’s plan of privatisation in numerous sectors. The protest will be carried out under the motto “Save Public Sector, Save India” with all its units associated with the public sector in protest against the government’s aggressive privatisation drive.

According to sources, a meeting of the National Coordination Committee of Public Sectors of BMS was held on 2-3 June 2020. The representatives from numerous sectors criticised the move to commercialise the coal sector; corporatisation of the defence ordnance factories board and railways; strategic sale of public sector units (PSUs), merger and privatisation of banks and insurance sector; and to attract more foreign direct investments (FDIs) into the country.

“The meeting was held to decide the plan of action of BMS against the process of privatisation aggressively pursued by the Central government in different names and in different sectors, like the commercialisation of coal sector, corporatisation of defence ordnance factories board and Railway, Strategic sale of PSUs, merger and privatization of banks, Insurance, increasing FDI cap etc,” BMS said.

“BMS will organise protest programmes in all the above-mentioned units in the form of daylong dharna, protest meetings, and campaigns, at the unit level. It is being observed from past few decisions of the government that it is trying to push and impose its unjust decisions on the workers of the country. The BMS is committed to fight until it stops the government from taking the anti-public sector and anti-worker decisions,” BMS general secretary Vrijesh Upadhyay said.

“The meeting hailed the contribution of the public sector to the national economy as well as the service to the people and demanded to stop of privatisation to save the nation and stakeholders,” Upadhyay added.

The BMS further criticised the Centre saying, “Government is justifying the dire need of money to run its machinery. However, it has no moral right or authority to sell national assets created by its predecessors.”

BMS alleged that earlier the government tried to make a strategic move in the name of selling loss-making units; but since no sensible purchaser was ready to take up loss-making units, now the government is forced to move to their main motive of selling highly profitable sectors like Maharatna/Navaratnas to lure the purchasers.

In a statement issued, BMS said “The advisors to the Government are in the dearth of ideas to generate revenue, hence the only way out they provide to the Government is ‘Corporatise and Privatise’. Such predatory advisors are working against the interest of the nation and are keen to keep real experts away from the Government even in times of difficulties.”

“The government should shed its reluctance in social dialogue and start consulting stakeholders to find out other means to address fiscal deficit and revenue generation,” Upadhyay said.