The Ajoy Edwards-led Indian Gorkha Janshakti Front (IGJF) has announced protests in Siliguri and Calcutta on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, demanding minimum wages for tea garden workers.
Edwards candidly stated that the agitation is meant to exert political pressure ahead of the Assembly elections.
“We are on an agitation because the government listens only during election time. Once elections are over, they will forget the issue for the next five years,” he told The Telegraph.
The party will mobilise tea workers from both from the Adivasi and Gorkha communities and stage a “peaceful and creative” protest before the labour department offices in Siliguri on Tuesday and in Calcutta on Wednesday.
In the past, Edwards’s team had pitched their agitation on “blood tea” — the blood and sweat of the workers — drawing sharp response from the industry.
On the two-day protest, Edwards said: “The same set of workers will stage the protest in Siliguri during the daytime (on Tuesday) and take the bus to Calcutta in the evening (for the protest there on
Wednesday).”
Around 150 tea workers are expected to join the protest.
The tea garden population can swing at least 15 Assembly seats in north Bengal.
“Our workers only receive around ₹220 a day and this is not fair. We demand a minimum wage for workers,” said Edwards. Although the tea wage is ₹250 a day, Edwards said there were statutory deductions such as PF.
The daily tea wage was last hiked by ₹18 in 2023 to reach the present ₹250.
A minimum wage advisory committee was formed by the state government in 2015. “So far, we have held around 20 meetings but have not reached a consensus,” said a committee member.
The committee comprises 30 members — 10 government officials, 10 representatives from tea planter and small tea grower associations and 10 trade union leaders.