Left parties hail general strike; seek rollback of labour codes, VB-G RAM G

The Left parties said the general strike on Thursday expressed the ''loud and clear'' voice of workers against the four Labour Codes and other government policies. A nationwide strike was called by central trade unions, backed by employees' federations and farmers' bodies, to protest against the notification and implementation of the Labour Codes, privatisation measures and other economic reforms. Demonstrations, rallies and stopping of work were reported from several states, with the participation of industrial workers, bank employees, public sector staff and agricultural workers, according to the union leaders. In a statement, the CPI(M) congratulated the working class on the ''successful general strike''. ''Peasants and agricultural workers joined the working class in protesting against the notification of the four Labour Codes, the virtual repeal of the rights-based Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, along with other anti-worker, anti-farmer and anti-people policies of the BJP-led Union government,'' the CPI(M) said. ''The working class made its voice heard loud and clear. The CPI(M) reiterates its solidarity with the workers, farmers and agricultural workers who are protesting the various anti-people policies of the BJP government,'' it said. The Left party said the government should immediately rescind the notification of the four Labour Codes and ''ensure that the hard-won rights of workers are protected''. It also demanded that the government rescind the Viksit Bharat -- Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, call back the proposal for privatisation of electricity distribution and withdraw the Seed Bill. It further said the government should withdraw from the various free trade agreements and trade deals it has signed, particularly with the US and Europe, stating that these were detrimental to the interests of Indian workers, farmers and the people in general. CPI(ML) Liberation General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, in a post on X, extended support to the strike. ''From the streets to Parliament campus, workers and farmers, men and women in India sent out a loud message of protest against the four Labour Codes of slavery, the denial of rural employment guarantee and mortgaging of Indian agriculture to the US farm lobby,'' he said.