Have taken away hardwon rights of workers: Balakrishnan hits out at Modi government on May day

CHENNAI: CPM State Secretary K Balakrishnan on Wednesday hit out at the Narendra Modi government for taking away hard-won rights of the workers while giving tax concessions to corporates.

Addressing his party cadres to mark the 138th International Labour Day at CPM headquarters at T Nagar, he said that in the last 10 years, the Modi government has given away all the natural resources to the corporates.

"Modi government which has burdened the poor and ordinary people with various taxes like GST has given so many concessions to the corporates including waiver of 16 lakh debts and reduction of taxes. Now the corporates in India are making more profits when compared to other countries. The Modi government has taken away the legal rights which were won over a hundred years of struggles were taken away and reduced them to four labour codes. The only achievement of this government is increasing the number of daily wage and contract workers. Now a worker joining a company will retire as a non-permanent contract worker, " he said.

Balakrishnan said that May Day is celebrated at a time when the people have come together to remove Narendra Modi from power in the election.

"We are celebrating this May Day as a day to take an oath to end caste oppression, economic and social inequalities, and gender discrimination and create a socialist society by uniting all the working class people including peasants," he said.

Meanwhile, Veteran CPI leader R Nallakannu hoisted his party flag on the occasion of May Day.