CPI(ML) Liberation has strongly condemned the Yogi government’s move to file an FIR against six trade union leaders and activists following the historic mobilisation of thousands of ASHA workers in Lucknow on October 23, organised under the statewide call of the Uttar Pradesh ASHA Workers Union, affiliated to AICCTU.
The FIR names Comrade Vijay Vidrohi, Uttar Pradesh President of AICCTU; Comrade Devanand, State Joint Secretary of AICCTU; Comrade Kamla Gautam; Dr Rajesh Singh; Manish Kumar, Uttar Pradesh President of the All India Students’ Association (AISA); and Bhanu Kumar, Uttar Pradesh Vice-President of AISA.
This action is another instance of the Yogi-BJP government’s repression of workers, students and all those fighting for justice. Under the BJP’s rule in Uttar Pradesh, workers demanding their rights, students standing in solidarity with their struggles and ordinary people raising their voices against injustice are being targeted through police cases and intimidation. Instead of addressing people’s grievances, the government is using state machinery to suppress democratic struggles.
ASHA workers, who play a crucial role in delivering community healthcare, continue to be denied fair remuneration, secure employment and basic labour rights. Their demands include recognition as government employees, a substantial increase in honorarium, payment of pending incentives and adequate social security. Instead of fulfilling these legitimate demands, the Yogi government is targeting trade union leaders and student activists who have stood with the workers’ movement.
The targeting of those supporting the ASHA workers exposes the BJP government’s hostility towards democratic dissent and the right to organise. The government wants workers to endure exploitation, students to remain silent and ordinary people to accept injustice without protest. But police repression cannot erase the legitimate grievances of workers or break the solidarity of those fighting alongside them.
CPI(ML) demanded the immediate withdrawal of the FIR against all six leaders and activists and the ASHA workers. The Party reiterated its solidarity with the ASHA workers, AICCTU and the student activists, asserting that the struggle for workers’ rights and dignity cannot be silenced through police intimidation.
