Recently the national media started lamenting on the issue
of the working class of the country resorting to the nationwide strike as a
medium of protesting and putting up resistance to the neo-liberal economic
policies of the BJP led Central Government and its allies. The national
mainstream media has been vocal against any form of working class struggle, be
it strikes, militant trade union struggle, or mere protest rallies. The
corporate controlled media is not willing to tolerate any form of protest of
the working class and always advise the workers and employees of the nation to
toe the policies of the government, even at the cost of their livelihood for
the sake of ‘economic development’, ‘economic growth’ and ‘national growth’.
The question that arises is whose development do the
corporate bodies advocate when it talks about ‘national growth’ or ‘economic
development’? In the last 15 years, thanks to the neo-liberal economic policies
endorsed by subsequent governments led by the BJP and the Congress Party, the
Indian economy has surely seen a boom. Despite the economic meltdown that began
during the US subprime crisis in the year 2008, India managed to drive across
the depression hit world economy, due to immense foreign capital investment in
its stock markets, especially in the BFSI, real estate, IT, media and other
sectors. India has turned into a safe haven for foreign institutional investors
to park their money during troubled time at their home. This makes Indian
companies record huge capital gains, despite slow down of economic growth
worldwide.
The huge capital investments made by the Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI) route in several sectors, especially the service sector of the
economy, the affluent and rich classes of urban India has experienced a rapid
boom, with excessive income that far surpasses the national per capita income.
The growth of the nation, as hyped by the corporate media organisations like
Times Group, or Hindustan Times Group, both owned by corporate giants, is
actually the growth of wealth of the rich, which has driven the poor to the
poorer segment and the poorest to the segment of pauperisation and starvation.
To add fuel to the loco of this so-called development model,
the corporate bodies lobbied for more access into the hinterland of the country
in search of cheap raw materials, land and labour. The corporate groups, funded
by foreign monopoly and finance capital were allowed to plunder the nation and
its resources, especially the minerals, land, water resources, and cheap labour
to burgeon their profit books. The people on the other hand were evicted from
their lands, especially the oppressed castes, tribal people; the poorest of the
poor were targeted as lambs of sacrifice.
This so called development model has widened the economic
difference between two broad sections of the people. On one hand, there are the
rich, super rich, upper middle class, the affluent urban society which is
accumulating wealth through the organisations blessed with foreign monopoly
capital investment, which is causing them to lead a super luxurious life,
boosting the luxury apparel industry and foreign monopoly capital owned FMCG
industry. On the other hand, there are the broad masses of people, including
but not limited to, the workers, peasants, toiled people, urban poor, and lower
middle classes. These people are facing constant isolation from the growth
trajectory of the rich, as for them the growing consumerist industry and its
aggression is causing the problems like inflation, rapid rise in living costs,
and ever diminishing real income.
Therefore, on several occasions these
classes, who forms nearly 90% of the Indian population bursts out in protest
against the burden of exploitation and oppression levelled upon them by the
rich and the government that favours the rich. As a result of this the working
class and mass struggles takes the militant form to press the establishment and
make it concede by force the justified demands of the people.
However, such acts of open rebellion against the policies of
corporate plunder and exploitation by the 90% of the population often draws ire
of the 10%, which is expressed by these 10% of the population through their
mouthpieces like the corporate controlled television channels, news papers and
internet sites. They vehemently oppose the working class, the peasantry, the
poor and lower middle class people resorting to militant struggle to press for
their justified demands in a democratic country. They call the endeavours of
the working class and peasantry, even the most peaceful one, excesses committed
by the people.
How do these corporate controlled media and their puppet
journalists plan to resolve the problems that the working class faces? They all
answer – through the mercy and grace of the mighty capitalist lords they hope
that the problems of the workers will be solved. That means that the working
class should shed all forms of protests, and plead with the Indian capitalists
and their foreign masters for granting them some charity. These corporate
honchos want the Indian people to pay lip service to democracy and allow them
to enjoy all privileges enjoyed by them through government patronage.
So, we can see that if there is a rally of the workers on the streets, it is despised as a traffic decelerator, causing discomfort to commuters (ie those riding their Benz or Audi). If there is a strike, it is called a spoilsport as it allegedly destroys mandays and cause loss to the corporate account books. If the people resort to voice their protest through meetings, then they are shown the farthest corners of the cities, where no one can hear their concerns, for example, at the isolated corner of Connaught Place, we have the Jantar Mantar, as a venue for all type of protests with no voice reaching the people of Delhi.
In case we see the data released on the Industrial disputes by
the labour ministry till 2012, we can find that the number of lockouts, lay
off, and closure in the private sector industries far surpass the number of
strikes in such industries. However, alike the strikes of the workers, the
labour retrenchment and closures of factories which cause immense agony among
the working class, is not considered a crime by any court of law of this
country. No newspaper editorial or TV anchor sheds any crocodile tear for the
agony of the workers and the poor people affected by such arbitrary actions of
the foreign big monopoly capital and their Indian lackeys. Rather these very
representatives of the foreign capital interest argues in favour of these
capitalists, asking the government to provide them ‘more’ leverage and ‘favourable’
conditions for business growth.
The problem is that our middle classes are influenced by
such propaganda of the corporate big capital, and their representatives keeps
on parroting the lines of the corporate honchos, even unaware of the fact that
such policies always goes against their own class interests, and even future
survival in a country which is fast turning into a neo colony of foreign big
monopoly capital.
We need to think, we need to act, now; otherwise it will be
too late very soon.
