BMS says Govt has no moral right to sell PSUs, will protest move on June 10

Trade union arm of RSS described advisors to govt as 'predatory'

The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), the trade union arm of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), on Thursday said it will hold nationwide protests on June 10 against the government’s plan to privatise public sector undertakings (PSUs) and anti-worker 'unjust decisions'.

The BMS said the slogan for the agitation will be, “Save public sector, save India”.

The BMS described advisors who have suggested to the government to sell PSUs as 'predatory'. It said the government had “no moral right or authority to sell national assets created by its predecessors”.

A meeting of the BMS unions in sectors like coal, defence, railway, postal department, banking, insurance, steel, telecom, power and other PSUs like Food Corporation of India was held on Tuesday and Wednesday to decide on its future course of action to oppose privatisation of PSUs.

The meeting observed that the government is “trying to push and impose its unjust decisions on the workers of the country.

A statement issued by the trade union’s general secretary Virjesh Upadhyay on Thursday said that the “BMS is committed to fighting until it stops the government from taking anti-public sector and anti-worker decisions.”

The meeting noted the contribution of the public sector to the national economy and its service to the people. It demanded “a stop to privatisation to save the nation and stakeholders”.

The BMS said the government is trying to justify the privatisation of PSUs on the pretext of “dire need of money to run government machinery”.

“However, it has no moral right or authority to sell national assets created by its predecessors,” the BMS said.

The trade union said the government had earlier tried to make a strategic move in the name of selling loss making units, but since no sensible purchaser was ready to take up loss-making units, it has now been forced to move to “their main motive of selling highly profitable sectors like Maharatna/Navaratnas to lure the purchaser”.

The BMS said the advisors to the government suffer from a “dearth of ideas to generate revenue. Now, their only way out is to advise the government to “corporatize and privatise”, it said.

“Such predatory advisors are working against the interest of the nation and are keen to keep real experts away from the government even in times of difficulties,” the BMS said.

The BMS asked the government to shed its reluctance to conduct a social dialogue and start consulting stakeholders to find other means to address fiscal deficit and revenue generation.

The BMS said privatisation of PSUs is being called by sundry names, like commercialisation of coal sector, corporatisation of defence ordnance factories board and railways, strategic sale of PSUs, merger and privatisation of banks, increasing FDI (foreign direct investment) cap in insurance, but amounted to selling of national assets.