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History Resurrected At Gurgaon

By Dr.K.Venugopal Reddy

18 August, 2005
Countercurrents.org

History has been resurrected when the workers of Honda Motors in Gurgaon were beaten black and blue by the police force during their demonstration. The horrifying police action on the workers on 25 July in independent India is in fact a reenactment of the police brutality on industrial workers during their strikes in colonial India. The ruthless police action continuing on the next day on thousands of the workers and their family members also reminds one of the notorious and reprehensible savage acts of British police on unarmed Indians during the course of the freedom struggle.

The British police resorting to the use of lathi charge or firing on workmen agitating for higher wages and also for recognition of their organizations was not uncommon in colonial India. It is paradoxical that even in 2005 the metaphor of police repression of workers struggles remains similar. The colonial tradition of ruthless repression of people's agitations needs to be abandoned.

Police Repression in Gurgaon:

The workers of Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India (HMSI) in Gurgaon were agitated over the suspension of their leaders, who were active in organizing them into a union. They were also restive over the management's indifference to the demand for enhancing their wages in light of improved company performance. The unyielding attitude of the management forced the workers to start their collective protest action from the first week of July to get their suspended and sacked colleagues reinstated and for increased wages. The worker's agitation continued for about two weeks. The company management instead of going for conciliation chose the course of confrontation and declared a temporary shutdown of the industry.

The workers perceived the closure of the plant as "illegal lockout" and about 3500 of them staged a protest march on 25 July to the mini-secretariat. The police confronted them in their march in the civil lines. The action of the police to hold back the workers created a chaotic situation wherein a deputy police superintendent was injured and a vehicle was set on fire. This triggered the massive police repressive action. The workers were beaten mercilessly and humiliated (They were made to hold their ears and crouch while running). The clashes between the workers joined by their families and the police also continued on the second day. Determined battles were fought between the protesters and police, who fired rubber bullets, lobbed tear gas shells and used batons to disperse the unyielding crowd. Contingents from. Rewari, Rohtak, Faridabad and Gurgaon were roped in toform columns of policemen, who acted with terrifyingferocity against the workers. The injured workers were admitted to the Civil Hospital in Gurgaon. Almost 300people were remanded in a day's police custody. While the unofficial account of injured people was put at 500 people, the Home Ministry put the total injured figures at 92. It is relevant to take note of what the Eyewitnesses had to say on the gory events: 'the police was not so much interested in dispersing the mob, as to thrash the workers black and blue by ringing them in from all sides. It appears the initial violence was difficulty for the police to stomach andit was determined to teach the workers a lesson.'

The Unwarranted Reaction from the State police:

The company HMSI meanwhile declared that it had nothing to do with the incident. Therefore the muteand most intriguing aspect to be understood is the state police's overreaction to safeguard the interests of the Honda Motors as against the workers. Is it because they are MNCs? It perhaps seems that a foreign investor in today's aggressively privatizing and investment hungry India commands immeasurable deference, allegiance and compliance from law enforcing authorities and the governments whether at the national or regional level. Otherwise, the tragic incidents could have been avoided, had the state police exercised the minimum extent of restraint. These incidents on 25th and 26th July clearly expose the partisan attitude of the state police vis a vis the workers as against the foreign capitalist. It is thus a determined and ruthless suppression of the essential right of the workers to express their legitimate grievances.

Lessons of Gurgaon Saga:

The intransigent attitude of the Hondas management to go in for agreement with the workers demonstrates that it has no respect for a collective bargaining process between the workers and the management. On the other, the determination exhibited by the workers during the strike period and their confrontation with the police symbolizes the fearlessness of the workers to preserve their legitimate right to organization and strike.

The strike of the Gurgaon workers dismisses the notion 'that the concept of class as social category is becoming irrelevant'. The strike sends a signal to the MNCs entering India with vision of making enormous profits through exploiting the readily available raw material and the cheap Indian labour that the Indian workers are not as mellowed as they expected to be. It also makes it obvious to them that the support from the Indian government to the MNCs is not perfunctory. The incidents and the aftermath send out the message that the Indian government may not remain a mute witness to the brutality and injustice to the Indian workers and it should don the role of mediator in industrial disputes.

It also necessitates an immediate introspection from the Indian government to reconsider its unstringed invitation to the MNCs to invest in India. The Indian government needs to make MNCs realize unambiguously that their participation in the industrial progress of India would not be at the price of the basic interests of Indian workers. The MNCs need to respect the legitimate right of the workers to trade union action to protect their interests. Any confusion in this sphere would lead to the creation of a space where chaotic and horrendous situations would become the regular phenomenon as witnessed in the site of Gurgaon. Most significantly, the callous and cruel behaviour of the police and the absolute disregard it has exhibited for human dignity begs for an urgent rethinking on the necessity of humanizing the system of policing in India. Finally, this incident would be used by the corporate business houses to press for "flexible" laws, which aim at greater autonomy for the capitalists in respect of employment, dismissals and the provision of decent working conditions in their factories. Therefore, the working class organizations all over India must become alert to the possible danger emanating from this quarter.

Dr.K.Venugopal Reddy is working as a Faculty Member, Dept of History, The ICFAI University, Hyderabad. He can be reached [email protected]


 

 

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