NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 15: As the strike entered its 11th day, the government and unions have started squabbling over the finer points of the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA). The government announced today that it would be invoking the act in six states; however, the unions pointed out that the act will not be implemented in many of these states.While officials said ESMA would be invoked in Delhi, Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Jammu and Kashmir; the states of Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka may be no-shows since they are Congress-ruled. The unions also claim that four states - West Bengal, Kerala, Tripura and Assam - will rebuff the Centre and will not take any action against the striking employees.Opposition parties today criticised the handling of the strike in Parliament, accusing the government of showing ``apathy'' towards the workers.The issue came up in the Rajya Sabha through a special mention and CPI (M) Member Nilotpal Basu and Fali Nariman. More than the strike, they said, the court order giving the government a deadline to end the strike amounted to infringement upon Constitution and eroded people's confidence in the administration of justice. Nariman was joined by Suresh Pachouri (Congress), Margabandhu (AIADMK), Janeshwar Mishra (SP) and J. Chittaranjan (CPI) in saying that court order impinged upon the fundamental right to form trade unions.Making a statement in the Lok Sabha, Communications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan pointed out that the move to invoke ESMA was not his decision. ``We are being forced to do this by the court,'' he explained, but by then, most of the opposition members had stomped out of the House.Asked whether the government would arrest the employees if they do not return to work, Paswan said, ``The government will take all necessary steps to bring back normalcy in postal services.''
