The Left Front Friday termed as “obnoxious” the West Bengal government’s circular denying state employees leave on Feb 28 when the central trade unions have called a nationwide strike. It equated the Trinamool Congress regime’s action with that of the country’s erstwhile colonial rulers.
“This is obnoxious, never happened before in the state. Only during the British regime such kind of circulars were issued. It is right of the government employee to apply for leave any day. We oppose this black circular,” Left Front chairman Biman Bose said.
He also criticised the Bengali media for projecting the all-India workers’ strike as a West Bengal phenomenon.
“Unfortunately, the vernacular media here has been wrongly projecting the shutdown as called only by the Left Front and that too only in the state. The strike has been called by the central trade unions against the anti-people policies of the central government, not by us, but we support the call,” Bose said.
The front also accused the Trinamool Congress of resorting to any means to defeat the purpose of the strike.
Bose also reiterated the opposition’s demand for an impartial probe into the alleged farmer suicides in the state.
“Already 35 peasants have committed suicide, but the government, including Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, has been claiming only one such suicide. What about the rest 34 farmers? We, therefore, demand a thorough probe into the issue and that the report be made public,” said Bose.
Eleven central trade unions, including INTUC, BMS, CITU, AITUC, UTUC, AIUTUC, HMS, TUCI and NLO, will participate in the Feb 28 agitation, demanding steps for controlling the rise in prices of essential commodities and creation of more employment opportunities.