Arka Rajpandit
THE General Council of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) met in Surajkund, Faridabad, Haryana from May 24 to 26, 2025, and called upon the Indian working class to prepare for an All India General Strike on July 9, 2025. The aim is to make it the largest ever general strike in the history of the Indian working-class movement. The General Council also urged workers to actively participate in the intensified campaign against the ruling class’s regressive agenda –particularly their attempts to amend existing labour legislation through state-level laws, aligning them with the provisions of the pending labour codes.
A total of 363 General Council members, including office bearers, attended the meeting.
The CITU General Council meeting commenced on the morning of May 24 with the hoisting of the CITU flag by K Hemalata, President of CITU, amidst resounding slogans. Floral tributes were offered at the Martyrs' Column by Hemalata and Tapan Sen, President and General Secretary of CITU, respectively, followed by other office bearers and council members.
K Hemalata presided over the meeting. Subhas Lamba, National President of AISGEF and Chairman of the Reception Committee, welcomed the council members to the historic industrial city of Faridabad, known for its significant legacy of working-class struggles.
In her presidential address, Hemalata explained that due to recent terrorist attacks in Pahalgam, Indian airstrikes in Pakistan, and escalating Indo-Pak tensions, the originally scheduled general strike had been postponed to July 9, 2025. The volatile situation, especially in border states, had disrupted campaign activities. Nevertheless, the BJP government has taken advantage of the unrest to aggressively push forward the implementation of labour codes and intensify attacks on workers' rights.
She noted that the nation, including the people of Jammu and Kashmir, united in condemning the terrorist attacks. While Kashmiris extended spontaneous support to tourists in distress, Hindutva forces exploited the incident to deepen communal divisions and target Muslims and Kashmiris.
Turning to the international scenario, Hemalata stated that although some label Trump’s actions during his second term as maverick behaviour, they are, in fact, part of the US strategy to reclaim global dominance. Despite being the world’s most powerful nation economically, politically, and militarily, the United States is witnessing a decline in its geopolitical influence, especially in the face of China’s rise. Trump's slogan, "Make America Great Again," reflects this crisis – marked by deindustrialisation, mounting national debt, and China's growing global influence. Discontent among US workers, facing stagnant wages and poor conditions, led many to vote for Trump hoping for improvement. While Trump initially imposed high tariffs, particularly 125 per cent on Chinese imports, leading to retaliation from China and other countries, he was eventually compelled to negotiate a reduction. However, India yielded to US pressure. The Indian government also failed to protest the inhumane deportation of its citizens, unlike smaller countries like Mexico and Colombia.
Criticising the Modi government’s policies, she said that it is simultaneously enabling economic exploitation and promoting communal polarisation through RSS-led Hindutva forces – displaying neo-fascist tendencies that serve neoliberalism. While the government claims it will challenge US tariffs at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), this is a deceptive ploy. The WTO’s trade functions, particularly its dispute settlement mechanism, have been largely defunct since the Doha Round and the Obama presidency, rendering such appeals effectively futile.
Emphasizing the critical challenges facing the working-class movement, Hemalata said that poverty is deepening among workers and peasants, leading to widespread discontent and a growing search for alternatives. In the absence of a strong Left, many are being drawn towards the far-right, misled into blaming "others" rather than the real culprits – neoliberal policies. This shift serves the interests of the ruling classes and corporations, who actively support and promote right-wing forces across the world. While our organisation's reports confirm this analysis, we have struggled to effectively disseminate this understanding to our grassroots cadres and members – let alone the broader working class. To achieve our objectives, we must undertake a serious and self-critical examination to identify and overcome this weakness.
Tapan Sen presented the general secretary’s report, which covered developments at both the global and national levels, as well as the activities undertaken by CITU during the eight months since the Kolkata General Council meeting. The report also proposed specific tasks related to CITU’s independent campaigns and struggles. It highlighted the increasingly visible neo-fascist tendencies of the ruling dispensation, which is aggressively pushing to implement the Labour Codes and Nyay Sanhitas with an aim to dismantle organised working-class resistance. The report emphasized that CITU’s retaliation must be integrated with broader struggles against neo-fascism. This demands concrete, local-level initiatives to confront the corporate-communal nexus and its Hindutva-driven authoritarianism.
The report observed that in the globalised economy, while finance, goods, and capital move freely under the influence of the IMF and World Bank, labour remains constrained by national borders. This has led to a significant wage gap between the Global North and South, resulting in the relocation of manufacturing and service industries to the South, even as capital remains concentrated in the North. Although the North continues to dominate in high-tech and high-value commodities, the ongoing global crisis has sharpened contradictions among imperialist powers –particularly due to differing productivity growth rates between the US and the Euro Area. In response, European governments are imposing austerity measures, which are being exploited by far-right forces to gain public support. Crisis-ridden capitalism is surviving through increasing monopolisation, marked by a surge in mergers during economic downturns, leading to greater centralisation of capital and enabling primitive accumulation. At the same time, powerful monopoly corporations are pressuring national governments to transfer public assets and natural resources at throwaway prices. These imperialist forces continue to exploit global resources and undermine national sovereignty. However, resistance to this plunder is also growing across the world.
On the national situation, the general secretary’s report emphasized the importance of understanding India’s specific dynamics within a complex global context marked by systemic crisis, especially with the NDA now in its third term. It is imperative to analyse how international trends intersect with domestic challenges such as widening economic inequality, aggressive privatisation, rising authoritarianism, and escalating communal tensions. Identifying these India-specific parameters is crucial to framing an effective response. The third Modi government is displaying increasing desperation, evident in its relentless push to implement the Labour Codes and its enactment of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA). Privatisation, particularly through the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), is advancing rapidly – having nearly achieved the NMP 1.0 target of Rs 6 lakh crore and now aiming for Rs 10 lakh crore under NMP 2.0 (2026-2030). These aggressive moves, which are driving the working class further below subsistence levels, reflect a desperate attempt to obscure the severity of India's economic crisis.
While presenting the general secretary’s report, Tapan Sen emphasized that the foremost task before the working class is to wage a conscious ideological, political, social, and cultural struggle against the neo-fascist RSS-Hindutva forces in India. This resistance must be rooted in concrete, holistic alternatives to the prevailing exploitative system. A reactionary ideology can only be countered by a progressive and radical one. Therefore, advancing and popularising socialist alternatives is an urgent necessity in the context of the current systemic crisis. The working class must ready itself to confront this neo-fascist reincarnation of old fascism – with all the clarity, resolve, and strength it can muster.
Sudip Dutta, National Secretary of CITU, presented a special note for discussion on Artificial Intelligence and robotisation. Introducing the note, he stressed the urgency for CITU, as a working-class organisation, to equip its rank and file to respond to this rapidly evolving global landscape. He emphasized the need to develop a common understanding and approach to this technological revolution, and to define CITU’s role in this context.
The note offered insights into the functioning of AI, its impact on the world of work, and its expanding industrial applications globally – including in advanced electronics and semiconductors, aerospace and defense, automotive, mining, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, and telecommunications. It also discussed sectors of particular relevance in the Indian context, such as manufacturing and supply chains, healthcare, financial services, education, consumer retail, and agriculture. The note refuted the prevailing fear that AI will eliminate human labour, asserting that labour remains the sole source of surplus value and profit under capitalism. It asserted that a class-oriented trade union movement like CITU must empower its cadres with cutting-edge knowledge and convert the AI revolution into a tool for social transformation – not in a utopian, but in a scientifically grounded manner.
CITU treasurer M Saibabu presented the statement of accounts, along with details of membership and annual returns received up to the date of the meeting. A total of 58 members participated in the discussions on the general secretary’s report, and 18 members spoke on the note concerning artificial intelligence. Both the general secretary’s report and the accounts report were unanimously adopted.
The meeting unanimously made the following major decisions:
1. Intensify preparations for the July 9th General Strike to make it the largest workers' strike in India’s history.
2. Continue the Cuba Solidarity campaign: The General Council reviewed the campaign and resolved to intensify efforts to expose the designs of US imperialism, aiming to collect and deposit all solidarity funds by July 2025.
3. Observe the 80th Anniversary of the Victory over Fascism by the USSR's Red Army, and the 80th Foundation Day of the WFTU, with seminars and programmes nationwide.
4. Implement decisions of the Working Women Coordination Committee meeting held on May 23, 2025, including the mandate to hold working women’s conventions prior to state, district, union, and federation conferences.
5. Hold the 18th CITU Conference in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, from December 31, 2025, to January 4, 2026, with 1,300 delegates, based on 2024 membership. Also, conduct the 13th All India Convention of Working Women in Hyderabad on November 1-2, 2025, as part of the conference process.
6. Study the impact of AI and robotics: The General Council reviewed an initial report and decided to pursue more detailed studies, particularly in modern manufacturing and healthcare. State Committees – especially those in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Maharashtra, Delhi-NCR, and Rajasthan – were given the task of conducting timely, on-site impact studies in manufacturing, while FMRAI will focus on healthcare.
The General Council tier of the All India Coordination Committee of Working Women (CITU) met on August 23, ahead of the General Council meeting. The General Council endorsed the recommendations made by the AICCWW (CITU).
The book Ranjana: A Life in Struggles, dedicated to the life and struggles of Comrade Ranjana Nirula, former treasurer of CITU, was released by K Hemalata and Tapan Sen. CITU national secretary A R Sindhu formally handed over the book to the president and general secretary of CITU in the presence of Comrade Ranjana’s family members.
The Andhra Pradesh state committee handed over a cheque of Rs 5 lakh to Tapan Sen as a donation to the Cuba Solidarity Fund.
The meeting concluded with remarks by the president. The General Council expressed heartfelt thanks to the Haryana state committee of CITU, the Faridabad district committee, and all CITU volunteers for their dedicated efforts in making the General Council meeting a success.
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