New Delhi: Political parties “hijacked” the general strike called by trade unions by announcing a “bandh” over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar, a senior trade union functionary said on Wednesday.
The general strike was observed against the new Labour Codes and other issues on Wednesday, while Bihar witnessed a “bandh” called by opposition parties against the ongoing SIR.
At a protest called by 10 central trade unions at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) president Harbhajan Singh Sidhu slammed the opposition parties, accusing them of not speaking up on workers’ issues.
He alleged that police baton-charged strike supporters indiscriminately at various places and also apprehended them wherever they tried to hold demonstrations.
“The police and the TMC played a reprehensible role in trying to foil the strike,” he said.
Salim said that though the strike was called by 10 central trade unions “against the Centre’s policies, but the state government became more active to foil it”.
“A democratic protest was tried to be stopped in an undemocratic manner,” he said.
Salim alleged that the TMC dispensation was being overactive to please “their masters in Delhi”.
He said that protests will be held over the next three days against alleged police atrocities at different places in the state.
Salim said that though the state government ran more buses to foil the strike, a large number of private buses and other forms of transportation were off the roads.
