‘Poor should not be stripped of their dignity’: Brinda Karat on SC’s ‘parasites’ comment on sops

“This letter is necessary because these reported comments published widely in the press may prejudice social opinion against those receiving what you have referred to as ‘freebies’. I know there is a petition pending in the Supreme Court on this very topic and will await the judgement. But my plea through this letter is for a reconsideration of some of the comments,” she added.

Karat said that the comments by the court “do not do justice to the hardworking women of India”.

“Nor do they recognise the hard struggle that the labouring people of India face for survival because of rampant unemployment, precarious nature of work available and low wages. The poor should not be stripped of their dignity by comments reportedly made by the highest court of the land,” said Karat.

During the hearing on Wednesday, Justice Gavai said: “Unfortunately, because of these freebies, which come on the anvil of the elections… Ladli Behna and some other schemes, people are not willing to work. They are getting free ration, they are getting an amount without any work, why should they (work).”

On this, Karat said: “This is factually incorrect since the large majority of women are already working — doing unpaid work — in the domestic sphere and also often unpaid work in family enterprises, including in agricultural operations. So the issue here is not that they are not working, but that they are working without any remuneration.”