The 'Maoists' of Manesar

Predictably, the government brought in a Maoist connection to the violent clash between the workers and management in the Maruti Suzuki plant at Manesar in Haryana on 18 July. Regrettably, the company’s general mana­ger (human resources), Avnish Kumar Dev lost his life and in all 93 persons, both workers as well as managers, were seriously injured. Unsurprisingly, whenever people at the receiving end tend to defy the multilayered barriers erected by the state to express their anger, the state automatically brands them as Maoists. Dalits and adivasis easily fit the bill. In Bastar, adivasis who refuse to leave their habitat in defiance of the state writ are deemed to be Maoists and are butchered by the security forces. When dalits spontaneously poured out into the streets in protest against the atrocities at Khairlanji, they were termed as Maoists and severely battered. Industrial workers, tamed by the economism of their leaders, were, at least until recently, not in that category. But with their militant protests, interestingly in the industrial backyard of Delhi – the Honda workers were publicly battered by police seven years ago and the Maruti workers’ exemplary struggle since last year – they have been bracketed with those whom Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called “the greatest internal security threat” to this country.

Method in the Madness