United we stand

The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) leaders cannot stop talking about it. The BMS, the trade union arm of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), claims the leaders of some Left-affiliated trade unions have also taken to shouting "Bharat Mata ki Jai" and "Vande Mataram" at some of the jointly organised trade union meetings and protests. BMS leaders say this is a clear sign that their communist counterparts have woken up to the fact that they need to espouse the cause of nationalism if they are to get ahead, politically speaking, in India. The leftists, however, dismiss the theory. One of their leaders said raising those slogans was in the larger interest of trade union unity and security for workers' rights.