On November 1, 2020, an impressive state level convention of Left trade unions and mass organisations of Tripura was held at Agartala Town Hall to herald the message of 10 central trade unions and fraternal mass organisations who had made a joint call of a nationwide strike on November 26.  The convention was presided over by a presidium comprising Panchali Bhattacharjee, Kalipada Bhattacharjee, Raghunath Sarkar, Shyamal Datta and Debashish Roy.

In his maiden speech, Manik Dey, president of state CITU said, the country has been passing through a new situation which is most averse to the working class and is unprecedented in the history of independent India. The country has already fallen in a deep economic recession where GDP is predicted at a negative growth. It is not that, Manik Dey continued, the situation turned so grim due to Covid pandemic, it is due to mad drive of the ruling BJP to privatisation, suppressing the toiling masses of all sectors for the benefit of corporates. The Covid pandemic only worked as a stimulus to that drive. 

Describing one after another anti-people measures of the BJP-led government at the centre, Manik Dey said, the centre has virtually declared war against people. This government has snatched away the hard-won trade union rights, democratic rights and is showing impatience to dissenting voices; vitiating the age-old social bonding prevalent in the country in the name of ‘Hindutva’, Manik Dey said.

Describing the privatisation drive of profitable public sectors like rail, electricity, bank, insurance, aviation, ports, BSNL, oil refinery and its destructive impact, Manik Dey said, to give pleasure to the private owners BJP government clubbed 44 labour laws into four labour codes totally ignoring and denying job security, wage formula, provision of collective bargaining and social security etc. Unemployment at present is an all-time high, the government’s priority is contractual labour and out-sourcing. Any kind of protest is labelled as ‘anti-national’. Protesters are framed in draconian sedition laws. All constitutional bodies are subjected to disfunction to ensure that they are unable to act independently. In a word, the entire country has been converted to a furnace where everybody is suffocating.  Now it is time to hit back, Manik dey urged.

Describing the plight of the peasantry, AIKS state secretary, Narayan Kar informed, according to NSB, 42,400 farmers committed suicide as they were unable to pay debts last year. This is the condition of agri-sector, which contributes the share of 13.2 per cent to the GDP. Nearly 52 per cent of families of the entire country is attached to agriculture. Instead of providing incentives to this sector, Narayan Kar said,  now the BJP government has decided to further ruin this sector and most arbitrarily passed three agri-bills to hand over the destiny of peasantry at the mercy of the profit-monger corporates.

The other speakers who addressed the convention were Radhacharan Debbarma on behalf of GMP, Shyamal Dey of AIAWU, Amalendu Debbarma on behalf of student-youth fronts, AIDWA leader-Krishna Majumder , AITUC leader-Dhanmani Singh, UTUC leader-Dipak Deb, UTCC leader-Raghunath Sarkar, AICCTU leader-Partha Karmakar, Swapn Bal on behalf of TECC(HBR), Jahar Dey of BEFI, Shyamal Chakraborty on behalf of the insurance sector and Dilip Chandra Bhowmik of Tripura undertaking sector. All the speakers urged that the toiling masses have no avenue to retreat. Their back has stuck to the wall. It is time to hit back the onslaught let loose by the centre. The Indian people shall re-write the history of resistance struggle on next November 26th, the speakers urged.

The convention decided to hold similar joint conventions at sub-division level and this programme will be completed by November 10, 2020.