The recent incident in Gurgaon, where police and local administration beat up hundreds of workers, is more evidence of the role the government sees for itself vis-à-vis protection of rights of labor in India. It forces the question - whose interests does the Government of India truly represent?

This is not a question for the UPA government or the NDA government. It is not a question to the personalities of the leadership of the Congress or of the BJP. It is a much more basic question – a question about rights of people, a question that neither the Congress nor the BJP are willing to deal with.

This is not a rhetoric demanding whether we are communists. Or whether we do not wish for development. It is a basic question on which this nation was formed – a question asking of us whether we recognize the fundamental questions raised by the people’s movements for Independence of India, a question regarding the destiny of the people of India.

India is a people’s democracy and in defining this form of our national society, we promised a form of governance and committed to a process of policy making that included every citizen, gave place for every individual’s voice, every human’s concern. This is the fundamental nature of our nation, more fundamental than a commitment to GDP numbers, trade agreements of FDI goals.

While our policy makers and the media have focused on the latter, they have been oblivious to the former. While we have been hearing from the Japanese Ambassador that this incident may result in the loss of FDI, from the Indian government that we should not worry about it and from the Japanese minister for commerce that they are very good people and would not reduce their investment in India, no one has gone and asked the workers what their concerns might have been or whether they were resolved.

While the details of what led to the clash may be in question, that people have the right to present their concerns publicly cannot be questioned. Why have those concerns not been heard? Why has neither the state nor the central government taken up the question of the rights of the workers?

Whatever popular media in India might present, India is a nation of farmers and workers. Of small business people and employees. This community probably makes over 80% of our population. Why are these voices becoming less significant in the decision making process of the government? Why should the management of Hero Honda have the ear of the government? Why should the Japanese partners have greater access to the Government of India as opposed to the workers of India? Why should labour laws be for the benefit of the Japanese partners, or even for the benefit of the shareholders of Hero Honda as opposed to Indian workers?

And if all of these are true, why is such governance any different from the one our people experienced in the 19th and early 20th centuries?

What was the purpose of sending in police to break up a protest that had been non-violent? It was not to save company property since there was no attack on company property. And in fact, the workers were protesting to get there fair share for the work they do; destroying company property would be counter productive to their own livelihoods.

The only reason the protest was broken up was so that concerns of people be suppressed. How is this democratic? And why is the local and national administration playing this role? More importantly, who are they representing?

And why did the police take off their badges before attacking the workers? In fact, this has almost become a routine. If indeed they are protecting people and preventing violence, why do they take off their name tags? Is this not illegal? And why has the government not taken action against the station in charge or the SP?

It is quite clear that the UPA and the NDA governments decreasingly represent the interests of people. They are increasingly influenced by corporate or international lobbies. The CEO of Walmart can have easier access to the Prime Minister’s office while over 500 farmers need to commit suicide in a state before the PM has the time to listen to the concerns of farmers. The state and national governments listen more closely to the domestic and international management of a large company and hardly to the workers, and during a dispute are more concerned about the former than the latter. Under these circumstances, it is expected that policies will continue to be made under influence of these large lobbies.

When do we begin to recognize these as trends rather than one off instances of ineffectiveness or corruption? And how do we ensure that the representatives we elect continue to represent the interests of the people?

These are questions we will have to answer.
- Sanat Mohanty

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