CPI's Binoy Viswam backs Feb 12 farmers' strike for basic rights

CPI leader Binoy Viswam announced full support for the nationwide farmers' strike on Feb 12, describing it as a movement to protect basic rights, sovereignty, and protest against anti-labour codes and unfulfilled government promises on MSP.

CPI Leader Backs Nationwide Strike

Communist Party of India (CPI) leader and working president of All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Binoy Viswam, announced his full support for the upcoming nationwide farmers' strike on February 12, describing it as a movement to protect the basic rights of the people.

CPI leader, Binoy Viswam, said, "The strike organised by the Kisan organisations will be a people's initiative to protect basic rights...The strike will be a complete success. The primary slogan raised by farmers and trade unions is the withdrawal of the labour codes, which are not labour codes. It should be named as anti-labour codes. Along with that, the workers and the peasantry of the country, along with the people of India, raise a slogan to resist the India-US agreements, which will be a death blow to the interests of the country's sovereignty... The funny part is that it is decided by only one man, Donald Trump... Earlier, for the first time, the Modi government were forced to withdraw the anti-farmer, anti-Indian agrarian laws. But when they withdrew it, they made a promise on the minimum support price, MSP. That is also nowhere. This is also the reason for the strike... This is a struggle for protecting our sovereignty," he added.

Widespread Union Support and Demands

Meanwhile, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) showed support for the nationwide general strike called by Central Trade Unions (CTUs) on February 12. The joint action aims to protest the privatisation, contractualisation, four labour codes, the Electricity Amendment Bill 2025, changes to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), and the proposed Seed Bill. Large-scale participation from farmers, agricultural workers, and industrial unions nationwide is expected at protest sites across the country, including PRTC, power employees, and other worker organisations.

Himachal Apple Farmers to Join Protest

Apple farmers in Himachal Pradesh have also intensified preparations to join the nationwide farmers' strike and announced a Delhi march, warning that recent import duty reductions under India-US and other free trade agreements could devastate the hill state's apple-based economy, despite repeated assurances by Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal that Indian apple growers' interests will be protected. (ANI)

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