West Bengal: Amid Hectic Poll Campaign, May Day Observed Across the State

Kolkata: Braving the over 40-degree temperature, a huge number of people participated in various May Day celebrations across West Bengal on Wednesday. A plethora of programmes, such as day-night cricket matches, blood donation camps, soccer tournaments in working class areas were held to mark the occasion. 

In a central programme in Kolkata, a huge meeting was held at the Shaheed Minar Maidan, addressed by leaders of all central trade unions, barring the RSS-backed Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, and by leaders of workers federations, including Central government employees and railway unions, loading and unloading workers of Burrabazar Posta area among others.

Addressing thousands of assembled workers, Anadi Sahoo, state secretary of Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), said that the condition of the workers and the working class had deteriorated in the past 10 years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rule in the country. Prices were rising and wages were declining or stagnant, he said, adding that along with this, random job cuts, sale of national assets and other “anti- people” schemes had hit the man on the street very hard.

After coming to the power in the country, the Modi government’s fiscal policy had seen a corporate tilt, as a result of which profiteering by corporates had increased, while common people were turning into paupers, he said.

Sahoo pointed out how the prices of life-saving drugs had sky-rocketed along with those of essential items.  “Unemployment is at a 45-year high, and the continuous reduction of interest on small savings has robbed the people of their earnings. Along with this, the Modi government is playing truant with farmers and peasantry by not giving them minimum support price (MSP) for their produces. This has led to decapacitation of the entire economic system of the country.  Steps like inflicting the wound of GST (goods and services tax) on small business has further led to destruction of small businesses,” Sahoo said.

The CITU leader pointed out that after coming to power in 2014, the main work of the Modi government was to hand over banks, insurance, railways, BSNL, defence production units and the mining sector at throwaway prices to the corporate sector.

“This has led to high profits for the corporate sector at the common person’s expense. Subsidies have been withdrawn in most of the social welfare sectors. Not only this, Modi has also helped in the looting of the corpus of public sector banks by corporates by writing off loans and in the name of servicing old debts,” he said.

Sahoo underlined how demonetisation had deeply affected common people as also the recent exposure of electoral bonds scam that showed how the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had forced corporate donations into its coffers by using central agencies. 

On freedom or expression and speech, Sahoo noted that India climbed 20 spots down in the index of World Press Freedom. “Journalists and editors, such as Prabir Purkayastha (editor-in chief Newsclick) are languishing in jail on false charges while a section of media has been outright purchased by the Modi government,” he alleged.

Amid the Lok Sabha election campaign, the trade union leader said that a communally-charged atmosphere was being created in different parts of the country, ably supported by the corporate media.

May Day programmes were also held in Darjeeling district in North Bengal, where CPI(M) district secretary and tea workers union leader Saman Pathak highlighted the concept of class struggle. The International Labour Day was also observed in Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar, North Dinajpur, Burdwan city, Durgapur, Asansol, Siuri, Krishnanagar and from various other places.

Amid hectic election campaign schedules, Left Front candidates, such as Sujan Chakraborty, Srijan Bhattacharya, Pratikur Rehman, Dipshita Dhar visited working class areas of their constituencies and celebrated May Day with workers. They promised workers that once inside Lok Sabha, they would work for the interests of the working class, “as it is the prime duty of a communist party.”