The Hindu : National : West Bengal Assembly passes resolution on right to strike

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Wednesday, Dec 22, 2004

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West Bengal Assembly passes resolution on right to strike

By Marcus Dam

KOLKATA, DEC. 21. The West Bengal Assembly today passed a non-official resolution endorsing the right to strike, despite being challenged by the Opposition.

It asked the State Government to urge the Centre to take steps to ensure that the right is not undermined. It noted that attempts had been made in the recent past by some quarters to curtail "the inherent rights of the people and workers."

The main Opposition party, the Trinamool Congress, sought an amendment to the motion demanding that the word "bandh" be incorporated in the original resolution tabled by the Left Front's Rabin Deb and others. The party declined to support the resolution on the ground that although calling a strike was a legitimate form of protest, the question was that of preserving it without violating the other rights of the people.

This view was shared by MLAs of the Socialist Unity Centre of India. In a recent observation by a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court, a distinction was drawn between the right to strike and that to call a bandh. The former was a fundamental right while the latter encroached on the fundamental rights of the people, the Bench said. The on-going debate in local political circles on the right to protest was triggered by a ruling of the same Bench, describing the bandh called by the Trinamool Congress in the State on December 3 as illegal and unconstitutional. Subsequently, the Left parties in the State decided to seek the support of all political parties.

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