Millions of people yesterday went on strike throughout India, unions said, as workers angry at the government’s labor policies brought travel chaos across the country.
The widespread action was in opposition to what unions called the “anti-worker and anti-people policies” of right-wing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
They highlighted the recent privatization of public firms and natural resources, and demanded an increase in the minimum wage and pensions.
Photo: AFP
Farmers and students joined some of the protests called by 10 trade unions that claim 250 million members between them.
Bus and train services and state-owned banks bore the brunt of the national strike action that was staged in defiance of government warnings of “consequences” for anyone who took part.
Protesters blocked roads and railway tracks, while those at rallies also chanted slogans against the nationality law passed on Dec. 11 last year that opponents say is anti-Muslim and has sparked widespread demonstrations.
In West Bengal state, strikers targeted railways and key highways and burned tires on a main road in the state capital, Kolkata. Protesters carried red flags at rallies in the city.
There had been some “clashes” in Kolkata and other districts between supporters and opponents of the strike, police said.
The eastern states of Bihar and Odisha, Maharashtra in the west, Haryana in the north and Kerala and Karnataka in the south were also hit by the action.
Some workers at state oil and coal firms joined the strike.
The government had warned strikers that they would face “consequences,” including having wages deducted and other disciplinary action if they joined the protest.
The strike has added to pressure on the Modi government amid protests over the nationality law, in which more than 25 people have been killed.
“The attitude of the government is that of contempt towards labor,” said the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, one of the groups organizing yesterday’s strike.
Opposition parties have backed the strikers. Rahul Gandhi, former leader of the main opposition Indian National Congress party, said that the government had “created catastrophic unemployment” in a Twitter message praising the action.
The government’s move to privatize big state-run firms as it struggles to get out of a severe economic slowdown has riled the opposition and unions.
The Indian National Statistical Office on Tuesday forecast that annual growth would slow to 5 percent this year, the slowest pace in 11 years.
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