THE national leaders of Samyukta Kisan Morcha and trade union leaders of Visakha Ukku Parirakshana committee addressed a huge rally called ‘ Rytu Karmika Sankharava Sabha’ (farmer worker clarion call meeting) against privatisation of Vizag Steel on April 18th on the beach of Visakhapatnam. Thousands of farmers, workers, employees and their family members attended the meeting. All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) president, Ashok Dhawale, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) spokesperson, Rakesh Tikait announced that they will raise the issue of continuation of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) in the public sector at all their meetings with the centre along with the farmers' issues. The leaders said that the centre had failed to give captive mines to the VSP, which was resulting in high production costs. The investment of the centre in the VSP was only Rs 5,000 crore but it had contributed several times of that amount to the centre and state in the form of duties and taxes. They demanded that the centre explain why it had written off Rs 6 lakh crore owed by private companies. The national emblem of India, the Lion Pillar of Ashoka, signifies the message ‘Satyameva Jayate’ (truth alone triumphs), which is known to every citizen in the country. However, prime minister, Narendra Modi is uttering falsehoods day in and day out, national leaders of farmers and workers’ unions alleged.

Ashok Dhawale said they are extending full support to the agitation by the Visakha Ukku Parirakshana Porata committee to save VSP from privatisation. He commended all parties in the state, except the BJP, for their united stand against the proposal to privatise the steel plant. The agitation for VSP was gaining support all over the country, he said. Dhawale underlined the need to protect the livelihoods of VSP workers and the farmers, who had given their lands for the establishment of the plant. He alleged that other public sector units (PSUs) in the country would also meet the same fate if VSP was allowed to be privatised. In the last seven years, the union government was busy privatising telecom, education, medical and health, ports and airports. These ‘anti-people and pro-corporate’ policies have helped 140 top corporate groups to make a profit of $ 596 billion, despite the pandemic situation. The policies of the union government were being opposed by the people of all states in the country, Dhawale said.

BKU(Bhartiya Kisan Union) leader, Rakesh Tikait said that lakhs of farmers, who were waging struggles in the national capital seeking legalisation of minimum support price (MSP), were all supporting the movement against the privatisation of PSUs. Describing the VSP as the ‘property of the local people’ as it was established on the land given by the local farmers, he said that the people of India have understood that the union government was only interested in the welfare of a few corporate groups. AIKS leader, Balkaran Singh, from Punjab, alleged that the target of the union government was to privatise land, air and water. He drew a parallel between the East India Company, which had plundered the wealth of the nation in the name of trade, and the centre, which was out to hand over public assets to corporate groups.

AIAWU general secretary, B Venkat appealed to the chief minister,  Y S Jagan and the opposition leader, Chandrababu Naidu to oppose the anti-people policies of the Narendra Modi government which has been ditching the interests of Telugu people. All India Kisan Sangarsh State Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) state convener, Vadde Sobhanadreeswara Rao lamented the Modi governments’ pro-corporate policies. Visakha Ukku Parirakshana Porata committee leader, Ch Narasinga Rao appealed to the gathering to speed up the campaign of ‘one crore signatures’ and that should be an eye-opener to the central government. Porata committee leaders, J Ayodhya Ram, D Adinarayana, Mantri Rajasekhar and others spoke on this occasion.