CPIML Writes to PM and Defence Minister
CPIML General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya has sent letters to the Prime Minister and Defence Minister demanding to reconsider the recent decision of allowing foreign direct investment in defence sector up to 75%. The letter reads as “We are greatly shocked to note that the Finance Minister has made two outrageous announcements regarding India's defence industry in her detailed disclosures about the Central government's so-called Rs 20 lakh crore package. Reneging on the commitments made by successive defence ministers, most recently in the wake of the historic strike of defence employees in August 2019, the Finance Minister has announced the policy of corporatization of ordnance factories. And even as the package was presented as a recipe for an 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat', the Finance Minister announced the opening up of this sector of strategic importance for 74 per cent FDI.”
“These twin measures would mark a severe blow to the ordnance industry and an utter betrayal of the agreement on the basis of which defence employees had called off their historic 2019 strike. What makes it all the more outrageous is the time and manner the government has chosen to make these vital policy announcements. At a time when the whole country is facing this virulent viral epidemic and defence employees are braving all risks and difficulties to contribute their mite to the national cause, playing a big role additionally in the production of PPEs and other life-saving equipments, the government has backstabbed the employees and the people by using the lockdown as a licence to announce these regressive measures.
“We understand that federations of defence employees' unions have announced a strike ballot following this act of betrayal on the part of your government. We therefore seek your immediate intervention to address the concerns of the employees by calling off these twin measures and honouring the spirit of the previous agreement. Corporatization of defence industry and promotion of indiscriminate FDI in this sector of strategic importance will weaken India's defence capabilities and it is shocking to see that a move so blatantly detrimental to India's national interests is being contemplated in the name of making India self-reliant. Hope you will pay heed to the views of the employees and the broader opinion of patriotic Indians and put an immediate halt to these regressive measures.”
The CPIML has also expressed its solidarity with the concerns of defence employees’ unions in view of their proposed strike ballot.
