'Working class should come up as a changing force'

India is passing through a tough period and the working class in the country are struggling to make the ends meet, said senior CPI(M) leader and Lok Sabha member Basudeb Acharia.

He was addressing the Dakshina Railway Employees Union (DREU) Palghat division conference at Town Hall here on Thursday. He said that the wrong neo-liberal policies followed by the Congress and BJP governments pushed India to a deep financial trouble.

The growth rate has come down drastically and all over India, labour unions, irrespective of the political parties they have affiliated to, are fighting against the wrong labour policies of the government. The railway employees cannot keep themselves aside from this movement, he said.

The senior Communist Party leader from West Bengal said that the people of India are always against the neo liberal policies which the government has imposed on them “When P V Narasimha Rao was India’s Prime Minister, neo liberalism was introduced in India. But now if you search, nowhere you can find a statue of Narasimha Rao.”

The former NDA government as well as the current UPA government under Manmohan Singh is following the same flawed policies that lead the common man to trouble.

“Whether ever they reviewed the adverse impact of neo-liberal policies on working class? Government should assure security to the weaker section of the society while implementing such policies,” he said.

Government should realise about the changes taking place around them. “In United States, the Wall Street protest was an eye opener for the government. Many governments in Europe fall down due to their implementation of financial policies which were introduced under the guise of austerity measures.

In France, a Socialist comes into power after many years. Indian government should learn from these international lessons,” he said.

He said that railway employees should be united to gain their needs. Private partnership in railway should be opposed. Employees should also intensify their protest not to allow foreign investment in insurance sector.

News office-bearers

The conference elected Mehboob Ali as the President of DREU and Mathew Syriac P as Secretary.