PRESS RELEASE
22nd March 2023
CITU DENOUNCES GOVT’S ARROGANCE SEEKING TO BAN
ALL PROTESTS BY GOVT EMPLOYEES & DEMANDS SCRAPPING OF THE DoPT ORDER
The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) condemns the arrogance of the Central Govt in cautioning of Govt-employees against participating in any form of protests and demands the immediate scrapping of such atrocious instructions issued by the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) to the secretaries of all Central Government departments on 20.3.2023 immediately.
The instruction seeks to prohibit participation of the Government employees in any form of collective expression like strike, mass casual leave, dharnas etc, practically all forms of protests in a democratic manner and threatens with the warning in the form facing serious consequences in case of participating in any protests. This is nothing but an authoritarian attempt to ban on the Government employees on their democratic rights for collective assertion/expression from participating in any form of protests pressing for their legitimate entitlements and demands relating to their rights and service conditions to which every Indian citizen is entitled to as per the Indian Constitution.
The Modi led BJP Govt known for its anti worker destructive policies, has gone desperate in the face of surging protests across the nation in one after another state from almost all section of working people across the sectors including the central and state Govt employees. It is so while the organized protests and agitation for Old Pension Scheme (OPS) urging for scrapping of New Pension Scheme (NPS) particularly by the government employees is becoming louder and widespread is gradually turning out to be a political challenge to the Modi Govt and the BJP ruled states. Such desperation has given rise to such arrogance seeking to ban all forms of democratic protests by the Govt employees. This order has also to be seen in the back ground of the Modi Govts atrocious and illegitimate stand of not returning the NPS corpus, which wholly belongs to the employees, to the states reverting to the OPS and has to be fought back relentlessly.
CITU reiterates that such an order has been issued by the Govt with the satanic motive to thwart the planned district level rallies across the country demanding restoration of Old Pension Scheme decided by the National Joint Council of Action (NJCA). But this cannot deter the waves of struggles and their success in getting the OPS restored in some states by their Govts. CITU calls upon the employees to go ahead with their united struggles and stands by the struggling workers and employees for their just demands and extends its fullest solidarity calling upon the entire trade union movement to extend all support and solidarity to the united struggles of the Govt employees and fight back the authoritarian arrogance of the ruling dispensation.
Issued By,
Tapan Sen
General Secretary
