The Chandigarh Struggle and the Working Class Movement
Sudip Dutta
CHANDIGARH witnessed a militant struggle against the privatisation of its public electricity utility for last two months. The Chandigarh UT administration forcefully privatised it on February 1, 2025. They lodged cases against the struggling employees and the protesting citizens.
The indomitable struggle of the employees has compelled the new management to agree for a memorandum of settlement to protect the interests of the consumers and permanent and outsourced workers. The struggle began when the UT administration moved to privatise Chandigarh’s highly profitable, low-tariff power utility at a throwaway price. The central government assumed the process would be smooth and uncontested, given that the utility had only around 500 permanent and 500 contractual employees. However, the unwavering determination and resistance of Chandigarh’s power employees turned the movement into a milestone in India’s trade union history – one that the Modi Government had not anticipated.
PEOPLE’S RESISTANCE
The uniqueness of the Chandigarh struggle lies in several key aspects. First and foremost is the consistency of the movement. For around 60 days, Chandigarh electricity employees, under the banner of the Electricity Employees Federation of India (EEFI) and its constituent UT Powermen Union, Chandigarh, have been relentlessly demonstrating at their workplaces and divisional offices. Their protests took place before office hours, during lunch breaks, and after office hours, with nearly all employees participating across all divisions. Notably, the Chandigarh administration invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) from the very first day of the agitation, yet the determination of the employees remained unwavering.
The second distinctive feature of this anti-privatisation struggle is the active involvement of employees' family members. With remarkable consistency, elderly people, women, and children have been organising daily rallies across various sectors of Chandigarh, raising awareness about the adverse effects of privatisation. They reached out to slum dwellers, villagers, market vendors, and middle-class residents, fostering a broader understanding on the issue. This experience has also been transformative for them, as they are cultivating a new sense of collectivism and activism. In this process, employees and their families are discovering strength in community and ideology – the very foundation of all popular resistance movements.
They reached hundreds of thousands of people, distributing thousands of pamphlets comparing electricity tariffs between government and private providers. Everywhere they go, large crowds gather and actively participate in the rallies. During these marches, public speeches are delivered at multiple locations, with citizens from diverse social backgrounds spontaneously voicing their opposition to the privatisation attempt.
Most inspiringly, women are leading the entire mass campaign. They have arranged a dedicated bus for transportation, allowing them to reach new areas and expand their outreach efforts. Through their interactions with the public, various other social issues have also come to light. As part of their campaign, they set a goal to collect 100,000 signatures opposing privatisation. This signifies their determination to secure the commitment and support of over one lakh people in their ongoing anti-privatisation struggle.
On this Republic Day, thousands of Chandigarh electricity employees, along with their families, gathered at the Electricity Colony and took an oath to safeguard the UT's public electricity utility until their last breath, following the hoisting of the National Flag. The gathering read aloud the Preamble of the Constitution and reaffirmed their unwavering commitment to upholding the spirit of Directive Principles through struggle. After the meeting, the protesting employees and their families marched to the UT Administrator’s office, where they submitted a memorandum backed by a petition with over 20,000 signatures.
The third significant aspect is the involvement of various social organisations and individuals. The employees actively reached out to these groups, convinced them to join the anti-privatisation struggle. As a result, they established an anti-privatisation forum, which includes representatives from village committees, resident welfare associations, independent women's organisations, Gurudwara committees, as well as farmers' and youth organisations. Meetings are being held in Gurudwaras, with community preachers also actively participating, further strengthening the movement. The anti-privatisation committee fought vehemently against this privatisation move. This movement is proving to be transformative, evolving from a class-based struggle to a broader community-driven resistance, fostering greater cross-class solidarity and collective action.
This struggle is gaining widespread support and solidarity from workers across the country. On December 31, 2024, electricity employees in 16 states held a one-hour protest strike in solidarity with the workers in Chandigarh. Employees from Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu & Kashmir have already submitted strike notices to their respective managements, informing them that any further mistreatment of the struggling Chandigarh power employees will compel them to initiate strikes in their own states.
LEARNING THROUGH STRUGGLE
Undoubtedly, unprecedented solidarity is emerging from all corners of the country. This movement is not only an expression of collective power as a socio-political force but also an eye-opening experience, allowing people to confront the true nature of the ruling polity. Simultaneously, they are learning how to struggle, devise combative strategies, and confront the State. At this stage, the embryonic political and ideological aspects of class struggle are beginning to emerge, moving beyond its initial economic issue-based form.
The public sector, established under the Directive Principles of State Policy, serves as a crucial instrument for achieving a welfare state in India. Privatisation, in contrast, seeks to establish private monopolies in strategic sectors, posing serious consequences for the people and the nation’s energy security. These concerns have now become a subject of public discourse in Chandigarh, marking a significant victory for the struggle.
The struggle prevented the private bidder from depositing the takeover amount for two months. The initial deadline of December 22, 2024, was missed, followed by another failure on January 21, 2025. This anti-privatisation movement has evolved into a broader struggle against the monopolisation of strategic sectors by private corporations. The battle is tough, but unity and determination are growing. Chandigarh will be registered as a heroic battlefield against Modi government’s privatisation agenda, and power sector employees are prepared to resist every step of the way in the coming days.
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