Centre Has Become an Instrument for Promoting Global Multinational Corporations: Thomas Isaac

Thrissur: The Union government has become an instrument for promoting global multinational corporations, CPI(M) Central Committee member Thomas Isaac said. Public sector banks, too, are being privatised and corporatised, he added.

The government has decided to transfer a majority stake in IDBI Bank to Canadian company Fairfax at a very low price, he said. He noted that the Indian financial sector had survived such moves because of resistance from employees. Bank employees and all sections of the working class must unite for new struggles to save the country, he said.

Thomas Isaac was inaugurating the 17th All India Conference of the Canara Bank Staff Union (BEFI).

He said nationwide two-day workers' strikes and farmers' agitations had forced the government to withdraw from anti-people decisions. Young people are now spreading a new wave of protest across the country, he added.

The Jantar Mantar agitation marked a turning point in the history of national politics, the leader said. He credited the Left with providing direction to the protest, adding that CPI(M) Central Committee members jointly led the agitation in Delhi. Efforts were also made to bring other political parties together on the protest platform. He described this as a historic intervention in Indian politics and said it had enhanced the relevance of the Left.

The Left is moving forward with alternative policies centred on working-class interests to oppose corporatisation, he said, urging people to uphold this political approach.

He also called for changes in the methods used to publicise and organise protests in keeping with the times. Instead of relying on traditional methods, digital platforms and social media should be used, he said. Bank employees should make mobile phones a weapon of protest, just as Gen Z does, he added.