marxistindia

news from the cpi(m)

April 18, 2026

Press Release 

M.A. Baby, General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has written a letter today to the Prime Minister, seeking the PM's intervention to address the concerns of the striking workers in Delhi-NCR. We are herewith releasing the text of the letter for publication.

Muralidharan 

(For CPI(M) Central Committee Office)

Shri Narendra Modi 

Honourable Prime Minister 

Government of India

New Delhi

Dear Shri Modiji,

I am writing this letter to draw your attention to the recent workers' struggles in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Delhi NCR and many other industrial clusters, after visiting Noida, one of these places. 

It was clear that resentment has been simmering among the workers for a long time, fueled by extremely harsh working conditions, abysmal wages, and workplace accidents. Over the past month, gas shortages and skyrocketing inflation have pushed their endurance to its absolute breaking point. This massive struggle also highlighted the plight of the workers, in which even the declared minimum monthly wages range from Rs. 11,314/- (Uttar Pradesh) to Rs. 18,456/- (Delhi). In fact, if we consider the cost of living in Delhi NCR, it is grossly inadequate to meet the workers' daily requirements even for a subsistence level of accommodation, food, and rent, let alone the education and health expenditures of their family members. Though the Haryana and UP governments have recently increased wages, that increase is also inadequate to meet even average living standards. It is also a fact that while minimum wages are enforced only in the organised sector, a huge number of unorganised sector workers survive on a pittance.

Instead of addressing the grievances of the workers, it is extremely unfortunate that the Uttar Pradesh and Haryana governments have dealt with these struggles with severe police repression unheard of in the country, with even pregnant women not being spared. The anti-trade union stance of the governments was also visible, as they are looking at these protests as a law-and-order issue instead of addressing them as a labour issue and facilitating a tripartite mechanism to resolve such labour disputes. Due to this attitude, a large number of workers have been arrested and put in jails, placed under house arrest, and the leaders of political parties and trade unions are not allowed to visit the aggrieved workers. I have personally witnessed such an attitude in Noida, where the district administration was not ready to meet our delegation, which included honourable Members of Parliament.

In this background, I would urge you to intervene and impress upon the concerned state governments to address the concerns and grievances of the workers.

As an immediate measure, given the current inflation, a uniform minimum wage of at least Rs. 26,000 per month across the entire Delhi NCR is the need of the hour. All acts of repression, intimidation, booking workers and trade union leaders under false cases, and fabrication of baseless allegations against innocent workers should be stopped. Honest dialogue and concrete measures to address the legitimate demands of workers are indispensable for maintaining industrial peace. The government should immediately release the innocent workers who have been arrested, and the embargo on trade union activities should be removed. The government should also provide, as an interim relief, subsidised LPG cylinders for migrant workers who actually don't have registered gas connections.

Lastly, at the root of all this is the fact that the new labour codes will eat up whatever minimum rights the workers have at present. Therefore, rescinding the newly notified labour codes and protecting the rights of the workers should remain of paramount importance to the government. I sincerely hope you will address these concerns.

Thanking you,

M.A. Baby 

(General Secretary)