2.5 Million Strike in India to Protest Gandhi Economic Policy
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NEW DELHI — More than 2 million workers struck state-run factories, mines, offices and the national airlines today to protest Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s economic policies.
It was the largest mass protest against the economic liberalization introduced by Gandhi’s 2-year-old government and came a day after Gandhi criticized state-owned industries for inefficiency.
The strike, called by all national labor federations with the exception of one allied with Gandhi’s Congress Party, was held in violation of the Essential Services Maintenance Act that bans strikes in vital industries.
Slogan-chanting strikers, waving red flags, staged protests across the country. The All-India Convention of Public Sector Employees said 2.5 million workers struck.
In Bombay, India’s financial and shipping center, the strikers marched in procession, blocking traffic.
In the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, police reportedly beat strikers with canes and arrested 50 employees of three corporations, the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., Hindustan Machine Tools and Indian Drugs & Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
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