New Delhi: Opposing the move to privatise Air India and corporatisation of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), an RSS affiliate that powers ruling BJP at grassroot level, has said the government has gone beyond all set norms of democracy.
“We oppose all the steps of monetisation, privatisation and corporatisation (of OFB). They (government) have gone beyond the set norms of democracy. They are imposing anarchy on trade union activities. In this case (Air India), we are also opposing,” BMS General Secretary Binoy Kumar Sinha told UNI.
“But we are mainly concerned about labour issues. We have ventilated our idea to the government that there should be guarantee of wage security, social security and job security of the workers,” he said.
The senior BMS functionary said the organisation would hold a national office bearers’ meeting on November 12-14 at Guwahati and the issue will be discussed.
“If required we will proceed for agitational programme,” he said.
Biting the bullet, the Modi government has gone ahead to privatise Air India and earlier this month announced to hand over the airline to Tata group after a long-running bid process. The government has also corporatised the Ordnance Factory Board by launching seven public sector undertakings.
A national monetisation plan (NMP) has also been launched to lease out public assets worth Rs 6 lakh crore. These assets include roads, ports, airports, gas pipelines and telecom infrastructure, among others.
“It’s a fact that we are part and parcel of RSS and this government is led by RSS people. So, we are also surprised that this government is not hearing us. In fact, it is not hearing anybody. Look at kisan andolan (farmers’ agitation) our Bharatiya Kisan Sangh has also not been heard. They are also being neglected. Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) is also aggrieved with the attitude of this government,” the BMS general secretary said.
