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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
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href="https://www.mintpressnews.com/largest-strike-world-history-millions-india-protest/263999/">https://www.mintpressnews.com/largest-strike-world-history-millions-india-protest/263999/</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">In What May be the Largest Strike in
World History, Millions in India Protest PM Modi's Policies</h1>
<div class="credits reader-credits">by Alan Macleod - January 8,
2020<br>
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<p><span><span>A</span>n estimated</span><a
href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/bharat-bandh-2020-all-india-strike-all-india-strike-by-trade-unions-today-to-hit-banking-transport-s-2160423"
target="_blank"> <span>quarter billion</span></a><span>
Indians – roughly three percent of the world’s entire
population – went on strike today across the
subcontinent, protesting the government of Narendra
Modi’s racist and “</span><a
href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/bharat-bandh-january-2020-1634833-2020-01-08"
target="_blank"><span>anti-people</span></a><span>,” “</span><a
href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/bharat-bandh-2020-all-india-strike-all-india-strike-by-trade-unions-today-to-hit-banking-transport-s-2160423"
target="_blank"><span>anti-worker</span></a><span>”
policies. The protests were called by the Center of
Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and are thought to be
perhaps the largest in world history.</span></p>
<blockquote data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">General strike in India begins.
250 million to be out today. World’s largest strike.<a
href="https://twitter.com/cituhq?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank">@cituhq</a>
<a href="https://t.co/Wyob6JVPjk" target="_blank">pic.twitter.com/Wyob6JVPjk</a></p>
<p>— Vijay Prashad (@vijayprashad) <a
href="https://twitter.com/vijayprashad/status/1214731889983885313?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
target="_blank">January 8, 2020</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p><span>The CITU has a</span><a
href="http://citucentre.org/component/k2/75-12-point-charter-of-demands"
target="_blank"> <span>12-point charter of demands</span></a><span>
they have put to the government. The demands include:</span></p>
<ul>
<li><span>Urgent measures to contain price rises through
a universalized public distribution system and
banning of speculative trading on the commodities
market.</span></li>
<li><span>A job generation scheme to combat India’s
unemployment problem.</span></li>
<li><span>Stricter enforcement of all basic labor laws.</span></li>
<li><span>Universal social security.</span></li>
<li><span>A minimum wage of at least 15,000 Rupees (≈
$210) per month.</span></li>
<li><span>A guaranteed pension for the entire working
age population.</span></li>
<li><span>Equal pay for equal work.</span></li>
<li><span>The stoppage of pro-employer, anti-labor laws.</span></li>
<li><span>The end to foreign direct investment in key
industries like rail, defense and finance.</span></li>
</ul>
<blockquote data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Delhi university strongly rejects
violence on campus and the communal divide of India. <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BharatBandh?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
target="_blank">#BharatBandh</a> <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NRC_CAA_Protests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
target="_blank">#NRC_CAA_Protests</a> <a
href="https://t.co/VHB4IYX0g2" target="_blank">pic.twitter.com/VHB4IYX0g2</a></p>
<p>— We The People of India (@ThePeopleOfIN) <a
href="https://twitter.com/ThePeopleOfIN/status/1214832859883528192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
target="_blank">January 8, 2020</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p><span>Many on the streets are also</span><a
href="https://www.mintpressnews.com/millions-protest-india-anti-muslim-citizenship-law-govt-crackdown/263712/">
<span>continuing the protest</span></a><span> against
Modi’s privatization schemes and racist CAA and NRC
acts. The CAA explicitly prevents Muslims (India’s
largest religious minority numbering </span><a
href="http://censusindia.gov.in/Census_And_You/religion.aspx"
target="_blank"><span>around 140 million</span></a><span>
people) from neighboring countries to acquire
citizenship. The NRC (National Registration Council)
overturns all previous citizenship laws, requiring all
Indians to provide extensive documentation to prove
their citizenship– something hundreds of millions will
surely be unable to do. It, therefore, gives Modi and
his ruling far-right Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) the
ability to remove citizenship– and therefore virtually
all human rights– from any Indian it wishes. The
government has</span><a
href="https://www.mintpressnews.com/millions-protest-india-anti-muslim-citizenship-law-govt-crackdown/263712/">
<span>already removed</span></a><span> nearly two
million people’s citizenship in the northeastern state
of Assam– around half of them Muslims. It is also
currently building a network of “detention centers”
similar to those used by ICE in the U.S. to house the
newly criminalized population of “illegal immigrants.”
In many cases, it is employing those same people to</span><a
href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-politics-citizenship-camp/as-they-build-indias-first-camp-for-illegals-some-workers-fear-detention-there-idUSKCN1VT00K"
target="_blank"> <span>build their own prisons</span></a><span>.</span></p>
<p><span>The strike is supported by most major unions
except for those affiliated with the ruling BJP. It
also has the support of the Indian National Congress
Party, which ruled the country for decades after its
independence from the U.K. Rahul Gandhi, leader of the
party until August last year, also estimated that 250
million would be on the streets, tweeting:</span></p>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://twitter.com/RahulGandhi/status/1214756142494048261">https://twitter.com/RahulGandhi/status/1214756142494048261</a></p>
<p><span>One industry expected to be hit particularly hard
by the strike today is banking. Nearly a</span><a
href="https://www.livemint.com/news/india/nationwide-trade-unions-strike-today-five-things-to-know-11578458203536.html"
target="_blank"> <span>quarter of a trillion Rupees</span></a><span>
(≈ $3.1 billion) in bank transactions are set to be
hit throughout the day, as ten unions from the finance
and insurance sectors, representing around half a
million workers, join the strike. </span></p>
<p><span>A common tactic of the strikers across the
country is to occupy railway lines, shutting down
India’s most important and iconic transport network,
effectively paralyzing the country. Representatives of
India’s coal unions also</span><a
href="https://www.livemint.com/news/india/workers-strike-to-hit-transport-banking-other-services-today-11578425161625.html"
target="_blank"> <span>announced</span></a><span>
that its 600,000 members would join the strike,
despite an order from the management of Coal India
Ltd. not to do so. Many of the country’s enormous
population of agricultural workers are expected to
down their tools as well.</span></p>
<blockquote data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">The people with the railwaymen in
Howrah railway station…<a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AllIndiaWorkersStrike?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
target="_blank">#AllIndiaWorkersStrike</a> <a
href="https://t.co/XxzJmK3VpM" target="_blank">pic.twitter.com/XxzJmK3VpM</a></p>
<p>— Surjya Kanta Mishra (@mishra_surjya) <a
href="https://twitter.com/mishra_surjya/status/1214748999334285312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
target="_blank">January 8, 2020</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p><span>News of what is billed by supporters as the
world’s largest strike has been hard to come by in
Western sources. In fact, there has been an almost
complete media blackout of the subject. A search for
“India strike” into Google’s news search engine as of
23:00 India standard time (in other words after an
entire day of unrest) produces just one result from a
Western news organization; a short article from</span><a
href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-strike/tens-of-thousands-strike-in-india-as-slowdown-hits-jobs-idUSKBN1Z70ME"
target="_blank"> <i><span>Reuters</span></i></a><span>
claiming that only “tens of thousands” are on strike.
While numbers for simultaneous demonstrations
happening across a subcontinent can never be gauged
completely accurately, what is striking is the
complete disinterest in such a large revolt from
international media organizations.</span></p>
<blockquote data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">I have more than 300 photos (
mainly from Bengal ) in my mobile related to protest
against <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/JNUViolence?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
target="_blank">#JNUViolence</a> and in support of
tomorrow's <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BharatBandh?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
target="_blank">#BharatBandh</a> </p>
<p>Some of them<a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AllIndiaWorkersStrike?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
target="_blank">#AllIndiaWorkersStrike</a> <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Kolkata?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
target="_blank">#Kolkata</a> <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StayStrongJNU?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
target="_blank">#StayStrongJNU</a> <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ISupportDeepika?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
target="_blank">#ISupportDeepika</a> <a
href="https://t.co/3rjwnczhrx" target="_blank">pic.twitter.com/3rjwnczhrx</a></p>
<p>— Amartya Das (@Amartya_13) <a
href="https://twitter.com/Amartya_13/status/1214610075496546304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
target="_blank">January 7, 2020</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p><span>Modi sees himself as part of the global wave of
far-right leaders (such as Bolsonaro in Brazil and
Orban in Hungary) who have come to power in the wake
of the global economic downturn of 2008. In December,
Indian intellectual Vijay Prashad</span><a
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrjQQAOpwiE"
target="_blank"> <span>described</span></a><span>
Modi’s ideology as a perfect blend of Indian fascism
and hard neoliberal economics, combining Hindu
nationalism with a package of privatization of state
resources. In September, the prime minister came to
the United States to attend a “Howdy Modi” summit in
Houston, TX, where he embraced Donald Trump as a
kindred spirit. And in April, he used the opportunity
of International Peace Day to</span><a
href="https://www.mintpressnews.com/modi-delivers-ironic-peace-day-message-netanyahu-borrowed-from-hitler/257702/">
<span>threaten to drop nuclear bombs</span></a><span>
on Pakistan. </span></p>
<p><span>Despite the fact that today’s actions show that
there is stiff and nationwide opposition to his Hindu
chauvinism, he continues to retain</span><a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_on_the_Narendra_Modi_premiership"
target="_blank"> <span>high approval rates</span></a><span>,
while his ruling BJP party celebrated a resounding
victory in the elections of April/May, winning 303 of
the 545 seats in India’s lower house, a margin of
victory rarely seen in a multi-party system.</span></p>
<p><span>Modi’s government</span><a
href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/face-consequences-if-you-go-on-strike-government-to-employees/articleshow/73137102.cms"
target="_blank"> <span>warned that</span></a><span>
“any employee going on strike in any form would face
the consequences,” while the Supreme Court claimed
that protesting today amounts to “grave misconduct,”
suggesting that the government sees the nationwide
strike as a threat to its legitimacy. Strikers claim
that it is just this authoritarian sentiment they are
opposing. </span></p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><em><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/AlanRMacLeod"
rel="noopener" target="_blank">Alan MacLeod</a></strong> is
a Staff Writer for MintPress News. After completing
his PhD in 2017 he published two books: <a
href="https://www.routledge.com/Bad-News-from-Venezuela-Twenty-years-of-fake-news-and-misreporting/Macleod/p/book/9781138489233"
rel="noopener" target="_blank">Bad News From
Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and
Misreporting</a> and <a
href="https://www.routledge.com/Propaganda-in-the-Information-Age-Still-Manufacturing-Consent-1st-Edition/MacLeod/p/book/9781138366404?fbclid=IwAR2xQQWJd98C25wapG4ynmlEnGvL5wxG_mp5RwpBwtwPDxInjNZ1Oo7KD-E"
rel="noopener" target="_blank">Propaganda in the
Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent</a>. He
has also contributed to <a
href="https://fair.org/author/alan-macleod/"
rel="noopener" target="_blank">Fairness and Accuracy
in Reporting</a>, <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/profile/alan-macleod"
rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>, <a
href="https://www.salon.com/writer/alan-macleod"
rel="noopener" target="_blank">Salon</a>, <a
href="https://thegrayzone.com/author/alan-macleod/"
rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Grayzone</a>, <a
href="https://jacobinmag.com/author/alan-macleod"
rel="noopener" target="_blank">Jacobin Magazine</a>, <a
href="https://www.commondreams.org/author/alan-macleod" rel="noopener"
target="_blank">Common Dreams</a> the <a
href="https://ahtribune.com/author.html?id=1088"
rel="noopener" target="_blank">American Herald
Tribune</a> and <a
href="https://www.thecanary.co/author/alan-macleod/"
rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Canary</a>.</em></p>
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