India

How Tories won a huge swing in Leicester amidst Truss debacle

Despite the Tories crashing in the opinion polls, they’ve just won a council by-election on a huge swing – in Leicester. On 13 October, in North Evington ward, in Leicester East parliamentary constituency, the Tories took 49.6% of the vote – up 32.7% . Labour was down 49.8% to 22.5%; and the Greens up 20% to 25.8%. Turnout was exceptionally high for a council by-election - 44.9%. What’s going on? In an area dominated by people of Indian background, this dramatic result seems to stem both from a rise of the Hindu nationalist right and from pandering to it by Labour - who ran a Hindu right...

Delhi's early years workers rise up

Between 31 January and 9 March many thousands of workers in the “anganwadi” early years childcare system of the Indian capital Delhi struck for higher pay, to be recognised as full public employees and other demands. In March their strike was declared illegal; hundreds of workers have now been sacked and thousands threatened with disciplinary action. The Delhi State Anganwadi Workers and Helpers Union has since organised a wave of protests, and says it will be restarting the strike. There have also been struggles by anganwadi workers in many other parts of India. At the end of July workers...

Johnson poses as BJP bulldozes Muslim homes

In the latest assault in the Hindu far right’s war on Muslims in India , Muslim people in many parts of the country are having their homes bulldozed. International attention has focused on the demolition of Muslim areas in Delhi, but such destruction is becoming more and more common in swathes of northern India run by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). There are recent reports from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand, states with a combined population of over three hundred million. This is a yet another deepening of the symbiotic relationship between right-wing Hindu...

Rana Ayyub barred from leaving India

Indian journalist Rana Ayyub, one of the most resolute and high-profile exposers of Narendra Modi’s far-right government and the Hindu nationalist movement it serves, has now been barred from leaving the country. Last week she was due to fly to London to speak at an event about... the targeting of journalists in India. This event had been widely publicised and her travel plans long fixed, but immigration officials at the airport in Mumbai prevented her from boarding. The official reason, nonsense even in its own terms, is an investigation into accusations of money-laundering. Literally just...

India's workers fight against the odds

On 28 and 29 March, tens and maybe hundreds of millions of workers struck in India to halt and reverse the Modi government’s viciously anti-working class policies. The strike was sponsored by ten of the country’s big union federations — generally organised in India on party lines — with the glaring exception being the Hindu nationalist federation run by the Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The unions’ twelve demands include reversing anti-worker changes to labour law, regularisation of informal workers, expanding social security and halting privatisation of industries and banks. You can...

Many tens of millions on strike in India

Strikers in Kerala As I write tens and very likely hundreds of millions of workers in India are taking part in a two-day (28-9 March) general strike against privatisation, precarious work and growing inequality. It is sponsored by ten of the country’s big union federations (generally organised in India on party lines), with the glaring exception being the Hindu nationalist federation run by the BJP. Narendra Modi’s BJP government is an extreme-right Hindu nationalist regime. It is also radically neo-liberal, accelerating the anti-working class economic policies developed for decades under...

Karnataka decision sharpens communalism

In Solidarity 625 we discussed the row in the south Indian state of Karnataka about whether Muslim women students are allowed to wear the hijab at college. On 15 March the state’s High Court upheld the ban, which sort of spiralled into existence from the end of last year and was generalised by the court in February. Its decision is being appealed to India’s Supreme Court, but that may move slowly. Meanwhile in what seems like an act of straightforward vindictiveness, Karnataka’s government has said that Muslim students who missed classes and exams either because they were excluded from college...

Childcare workers in India fight for their rights

For a longer article explaining the political background to this struggle, with links to more in the Indian press and a video of workers talking about their problems and demands, see here . You can make a donation to support the workers here . Tens of thousands of workers in “anganwadi” government childcare centres – a bit like Sure Start centres – in the Indian capital Delhi and the neighbouring state of Haryana have been on strike to demand higher wages, secure employment and better rights. They have demands about: • Pay. The anganwadi workers get 9,678 rupees a month (about £96) and helpers...

Support the anganwadi childcare workers in Delhi and Haryana!

On 9 March the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, the nationally-appointed official who oversees the territory of the Indian capital, invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) to ban a strike by thousands of childcare workers. This relatively little-used Act applies to government workers. As Shivani Kaul, president of the workers’ union DSAWHU (Delhi State Anganwadi Workers and Helpers Union) , points out, the workers do not have the status of public employees: they are treated as volunteers who receive honorariums. This is in fact one of their main grievances. So which is it? The union...

Indian elections: what happened

Queueing to vote We have done our best to cover the momentous struggles in India since 2020. Last month we published a preview of the country’s state elections, the first to take place since the farmers’ struggle triumphed . Along with hundreds of millions in India, we hoped that the far-right, Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had been pushed back. In some respects it has been; but not that much. Without time yet for detailed investigation, serious analysis or discussion with Indian socialists, we wanted to publish an overview of what has happened. In the giant state of Uttar...

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