Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, at odds with the Kerala unit of the party, on Wednesday visited Asha workers who have been protesting outside the government secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram at a time there has been discontent among sections of cadres over his no-show.
Kerala’s Left government has been attempting to suppress the protest over pay.
Tharoor had on Tuesday night declared that he would visit the protest site at 4pm on Wednesday. Soon after the announcement, the Congress decided to hit the streets for the cause of the Asha workers, who have been demanding an increase in their monthly honorarium from ₹7,000 to ₹21,000 along with retirement benefits and the clearance of three months’ pending payments.
Tharoor, who has already ruffled feathers in the Congress by praising the Left government’s industrial policy and extolling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with US President Donald Trump, had thrown a dare to his party earlier this week by saying he had other options in case the Congress “does not want” him.
There has also been discontent in the state Congress unit over Tharoor staying away from the Asha workers’ protest. He arrived on the 17th day of the protest and pledged to ensure that the workers are not terminated by the state government over their protest. Tharoor said that the current honorarium was insufficient and the due payments should be cleared.
“The honorarium of ₹7,000 is less and clearance of three months’ payment is also due. I’m aware that the state and central governments are dilly-dallying on increasing their honorarium. I assure you that I will take up this issue before the central government. The state government should also ensure that their retirement benefits are paid. They can neither threaten the protesters nor terminate them. What the government should be doing is to ensure that their demands are met,” Tharoor said.
The protest gained momentum following a circular from the Left government warning that the protesting workers would be replaced if they did not return to work. The state Congress leadership said the circular would be burnt before the 1,200 local bodies in Kerala.
State Congress president K. Sudhakaran said party workers, including Mahila Congress members, would take to the streets on Thursday to protest the circular. “The controversial circular will be burnt before the 1,200 local bodies in the state. As a mark of solidarity to the Asha workers’ protest, the 14 district Congress committee members will arrive before the state secretariat and the 13 district collectorates on March 3,” said Sudhakaran.
The Congress’s move to take up the Asha workers’ cause has come amid growing public support for the protest. The workers had been receiving solidarity from multiple sections of the society. However, the CPM leadership, including the trade union wing Citu, initially distanced itself from the protest. The situation escalated when a senior CPI leader publicly criticised the CPM for trying to undermine a genuine protest.