Mangaluru : Centre for Indian Trade Union (CITU) state unit president S Varalakshmi on Monday blamed successive governments for safeguarding the interests of capitalists against labour class.

Speaking at a programme organised to mark May Day at Town Hall here, Varalakshmi quoted statistics from 1947 to till date and said the assets of certain industrialists have grown manifold. The total value of assets of industrialists is worth Rs 22,147 lakh crore today against Rs 328 crore calculated at the time of independence in 1947. In the last three years, the number of crorepatis has touched 134 in the country against meagre 80 earlier, thanks to Congress led government at the Centre then, she added.

The labourers have voted for all the three major political parties Congress, BJP and also Janata Dal (Secular). None could alleviate the woes of proletariat class who still remain poor both economically and socially, she added.

She said the country has 46 crore labourers. Despite this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is taking cataclysmic decisions only to favour certain industrialists. It is evident with the recent decisions to cut down the government’s stake in public sector enterprises (PSU) like Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML), Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and others to sell them to industrialists like Ambani.

“Strangely, the prime minister harps on building ‘Bahujana Bharatha, Eka Bharatha’, but is belittling the labour class with his deleterious steps in the last three years of coming to power,” Varalakshmi claimed.

Recalling the root of labour movement at Chicago in USA in 1830, Varalakshmi said, the demands still remain to be addressed, with trade unions hitting streets demanding for job hour, equal pay for equal work and also job security. While the demands remain hanging, the industrialists are gradually replacing manual labour with technology deploying robots and also machines, she charged.

However, there is nothing to lose heart over any such vitiating attempts, as is evident with recent protests held for the cause of anganwadi workers and also that of garment workers that held capital city Bengaluru to ransom, she added.

Varalakshmi also gave a clarion call to labourers to join overnight protest on the eve of Independence Day on August 14 only to show the unity of labour class.

Earlier, labourers irrespective of men and women, waving red flags, came in a rally from Dr B R Ambedkar Circle (Jyothi talkies Circle) to the Town Hall.