THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The nationwide strike by joint trade unions on Thursday triggered a war of words between the LDF and UDF, after CPM leader and CITU general secretary Elamaram Kareem came down heavily on Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan for taking out his political rally on strike day. Kareem said Satheesan holding the rally on the day amounts to insulting the workers on strike. Stating that the UDF was challenging the workers, Kareem said the opposition front could have postponed the rally.
While the Congress and the INTUC have been associating with the strike in all other states, it’s just the opposite in Kerala. “The Congress has prevented INTUC workers from taking part in the strike, while they have been actively taking part in agitations in other states,” Kareem said adding that the strike decision was collectively taken by all trade unions including the INTUC.
When the decision was conveyed to Rahul Gandhi, he had offered support. But the state Congress leadership has failed to understand this, he added.
Meanwhile, Satheesan criticised the general practice of imposing hartal-like situation in the state in the name of labour strike. Satheesan termed it an additional burden on the people. Making his opposition to hartals clear, Satheesan said strikes have been turning into hartals and bandhs in the state.
The Congress leader said such methods are outdated and an obsolete mode of protest. While supporting the move to organise public campaigns for workers’ rights, Satheesan said hartal-like protests cannot be accepted. Instead there should be attempts to raise public awareness on the Union government’s anti-people policies, he added.