BMS to launch stir against Modi govt

The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), the largest trade union in the country, on Wednesday said it was planning a nationwide agitation against the string of anti-poor and anti-workers decisions made by the Narendra Modi-led government.

BMS, along with other central trade unions, will hold protests across the country on December 5.

Its general secretary Vrijesh Upadhyay said that the agitation on Friday will be followed by more intensive and widespread protests and demonstrations against the government.

"We will discuss with other trade unions to decide on the plan for future protests on Friday," said Upadhyaya. The BMS claims a membership of 17 million workers.

It is the trade union arm of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which is the ideological parent of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Upadhyaya said the BMS demands the government take back its anti-worker labour reforms as well as its proposed reforms in the insurance sector.

The trade union is opposed to disinvestment in public sector undertakings, closure of sick public-sector undertakings (PSUs) and handing over of upkeep of railway stations to private sector. The trade union claimed that closure of sick PSUs was a ruse to sell prime property to real estate sharks at cheap rates that these units own.

It said that Prime Minister Modi's Make in India project will sound the death knell for thousands of small industries. The trade union said the reform of the Factories Act in Rajasthan means that only 250 of the 14,000 factories are now under the ambit of the law.