We are employees, not slaves: Karnataka transport staff to go on strike from August 5
Hubballi: The Akhila Karnataka Rajya Raste Sarige Naukarara Mahamandali has announced an indefinite strike starting August 5, citing the state government’s failure to act on their long-pending demands or respond to their strike notice.
“There is no question of withdrawing the strike now,” Deccan Herald quoted Mahamandali president K.S. Sharma as saying.
Sharma strongly criticised the government’s move to invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA), calling it a tactic to threaten employees of road transport corporations.
“It is ironic that the chief minister has not called for a meeting. Is this the way to run a government? Is it a people’s government or not?” he questioned.
Calling the Esma invocation an anti-labour policy, Sharma urged chief minister Siddaramaiah to engage with employees rather than “testing their patience.”
“We are not slaves; we are employees who serve both the government and the public. Running a government by invoking ESMA won’t work for long; it will backfire,” he asserted.
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Niqab incident: Nitish Kumar perhaps revealing his true colours, says J-K CM
Srinagar (PTI): Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday criticised his Bihar counterpart over the niqab incident and said that Nitish Kumar might be slowly revealing his true nature.
"Nitish Kumar, who was once considered a secular leader, may be slowly showing his true colours," Abdullah told reporters here on the sidelines of a function.
Abdullah said Kumar removing the face veil of a Muslim woman doctor was wrong and cannot be justified by any means.
"We have seen this kind of incident here several years ago. Have you forgotten how Mehbooba Mufti removed the burqa of a legitimate voter inside a polling station? That act was wrong, and this act (of Kumar) is also wrong.
"If the (Bihar) chief minister did not want to hand over the order to her (Muslim woman), they could have kept her aside. However, to humiliate her like this is totally wrong," the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said.
Kumar stirred a huge controversy after he removed the face veil of a Muslim woman at a function earlier this week.
