Gurgaon146;s Kurukshetra

Nobody who saw images of Haryana policemen beating up agitating workers from Honda Motors8217; factory in Gurgaon could have been left unmo...

Nobody who saw images of Haryana policemen beating up agitating workers from Honda Motors8217; factory in Gurgaon could have been left unmoved. Indeed, a heavy-handed use of the truncheon is the abiding identity of police forces across India. There must be a more enlightened and less brutal way of dispersing a crowd. Having said that, it would be prudent to look at the wider implications of Monday8217;s tragedy, now being quickly reduced to a farce. What the police encountered was not an orderly demonstration. Peaceful marchers don8217;t walk out with sticks and stones and the occasional spear. The near lynching of the deputy commissioner when he visited the injured in hospital was no doubt evidence of anger. Even so, it is difficult to escape the impression that it was also a 8216;8216;show8217;8217; for the accompanying media.

Historically, Haryana has been a state without labour unrest. This has made it a sought after destination for investment, created jobs and attracted migrants 8212; white collar and blue collar 8212; from across India. One frenzied afternoon cannot be allowed to wipe away that reality. Unfortunately, that is not how the gaggle of fellow travellers who have descended upon Gurgaon seem to see it. Already some of them have called for a day-long strike in the city, realising full well what this will do to morale in the call centre/BPO industry that has made Gurgaon a byword for Indian infotech. The Congress, which runs the state government, is yet again caught in no man8217;s land, dependent as it is on the Left at the Centre. A combination of political diffidence and rampaging, out-of-date rhetoric can send all the wrong signals. This is not the 1980s, where India is a bit player in a fragmented world economy; this is a globalised world, where India is on the edge of the big league. As such, every move it makes is watched, interpreted and, sometimes, overstated by the omnipresent television camera. One labour dispute in one factory in one town can be magnified into a far bigger crisis than it is.

The Left obviously sees political potential in bringing militant trade unionism to Delhi8217;s doorstep. It is a sobering thought that the very phenomenon has reduced the stretch from Kanpur to Kolkata to an industrial wasteland. That is why it is important to recognise the Gurgaon violence as a horrible aberration 8212; not a televised episode of class struggle.