22 November Friday

Mazdoor-Kisan March to Parliament on Sept 5

HemalataUpdated: Friday Jun 8, 2018

New Delhi> Trade Unions  (CITU), All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS)  and All India Agricultural Workers’  Union (AIAWU) have decided to conduct  a massive ‘March to Parliament’ on  September 5, 2018. This will be the  first ever such march in the national  capital, of the three major sections of  the toiling people, who produce the  wealth of this country.

Soon after its general council  meeting in the last week of March 2018,  where the decision for organising such  a rally was taken, CITU has started  preparations for the campaign and  mobilisation. A team was constituted at  the CITU centre to work out the concrete  details of the campaign as per the  direction of the general council, which  decided that the campaign should focus  on the 12 point charter of demands of  the joint trade union movement and the  10 point charter formulated by the CITU  secretariat.

These encompass all the  issues of concern for the toiling people,  workers, peasants and agricultural  workers, at their work place as well as  in their daily lives.  The aim of the campaign is to link  up the day-to-day issues of the workers  with the policies being adopted by the  governments, led by the BJP, Congress  and the regional parties leading  different state governments and expose  the politics that support these policies.  It also aims to project pro-worker and  pro-people alternatives and mobilise  workers and other sections of the toiling  people to fight for such alternatives.

CITU has also decided to try its best to  put into practice in this campaign the  slogan it has been giving since its 14th  conference: ‘Reach the unreached’.  As per the decision of the CITU  general council, state level workshops  are being held involving state  committee/council members of CITU  and the leadership of its state level  unions. In addition to planning the  campaign, these workshops are also  meant to discuss the updated document  on organisation adopted in the  Kozhikode general council, applying  it to the concrete conditions in the  state. Workshops have already been  completed in around 10 states with  others scheduled in June-July. These  will be followed by district level  workshops and meetings of the lowest  level union committees by July end.

 CITU centre has decided to prepare  campaign material in the form of  booklets, pamphlets and sector specific  talking points that are to be translated  by the state committees into local  languages and provided to the cadres.  The sector specific talking points are  meant to equip the cadres to discuss  these issues in the general body  meetings of workers at the lowest level.  CITU has also decided to use cultural  forms in the campaign, particularly in  its ‘Samoohik Jagaran’ programme on  the night of August 14.

On the whole, this campaign is  meant not only to expose the failures  of the BJP led Modi government at  the centre, but also of the neoliberal  policies. It is to create the confidence  among the toiling people that by  coming together they can defeat these  policies and the parties supporting  them. It is a part of the effort to  unite all sections of toiling people to  strengthen the struggle for an  alternative.    

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