The Hindu : Banned PWG building base in Capital

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 19, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Banned PWG building base in Capital

By Lalit K. Jha

NEW DELHI, JAN. 18. Away from the public limelight, the outlawed People's War Group is quietly but steadily increasing its base among the poor and workers class in the Capital, which its leaders assert, was part of their larger objective of launching a struggle against the ruling class and the rich.

"As of now we are concentrating on increasing and consolidating our base in Delhi. Rest would come later,'' said a senior leader of the PWG in Delhi. The banned organisation has deputed over a dozen full-time activists from various parts of the country for mobilising the workers class in the Capital and the neighbouring satellite townships like Noida, Faridabad, Gurgaon and Ghaziabad.

Though facing "teething problems" in mobilising the labourer and workers class in a cosmopolitan city like Delhi, PWG activists have managed to create a base for themselves in Okhla and Kalkaji in South Delhi and in Shahdara in East Delhi. To begin with they have taken up the issue of payment of minimum wages to the labourers, skilled or unskilled.

Active among the poor unskilled workers of the Capital for the past three years now, the PWG leader said it was very difficult to generate awareness among these workers here. "Unlike peasants of the rural areas, these labourers are mostly migrants who come to Delhi to earn some money. They are desperate to get a job, which is exploited by industrialists and businessmen. Also a majority of these workers move from one place to other in quick time," the activist said.

Despite all this, the PWG activist claimed that they have managed to create a group of sympathisers and part-time activists to mobilise the workers community in the industrial areas of the Capital. "We have tried to take the trade union route for mobilisation, but this is not of much help as our past record shows that they often ditch us,'' he said.

It is believed that senior leaders of the PWG come to the Capital from time to time to oversee the development of the outlawed organisation here which they view as most crucial in their future struggle. "Anything in the Capital or its neighbourhood would immediately catch the attention of the public," they argue.

Stating that Delhi was part of their long-term project to have base in urban areas as in the next few decades quite a sizeable percentage of country's population would be staying in towns and cities, the senior PWG activist said, "Our work is in a nascent stage here. Our first priority here is to stay and work among the workers so as to raise their consciousness and thus create a strong base for ourselves. In the next phase, we will launch a mass movement for the rights of the workers."

Insiders in the PWG said as part of their strategy, they have decided to join hands with other like-minded social organisations, trade unions and non-governmental organisations working among the workers and slum clusters so that no one could identify them.

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