RSS body claims Centre in cahoots with land mafia

The biggest graft allegation yet against the BJP-led Centre ironically came from the saffron folds. Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), the trade union arm of the RSS, said on Monday that the government was in cahoots with land mafia.

The allegations came on Monday as a disgruntled BMS held a presser to express its disappointment with the ruling dispensation's "total disregard for the rights and welfare of labourers and working class" reflected in its latest Budget.

"We see a clear role of government collusion with the mafia in acquiring land to make 125 small airports across the country in the name of regional connectivity, as declared in the last Budget, and then the decision to privatise them along with the national carrier. Twenty four companies are to go under the hammer in the name of 'strategic disinvestment'. When they privatise, the acquired land will be given to private parties," BMS zonal head Pawan Kumar said, while declaring the organisation's plans to launch all-India protests against the Union Budget 2018-19.

Lashing out against the Union Government, Kumar said, "The government earns Rs 3 lakh crore from profit-making PSUs under different heads and the sick PSUs account for a loss of just Rs 30,000 crore. Now, does it make sense to revive them or divest them, as the government wishes? This helps them fund their own expenditure and decrease the revenue deficit," Kumar alleged.

"The standard deduction in income tax meaning a person in the 20 per cent tax slab benefits by Rs 35 has been much talked about. Anganwadi workers last got a salary hike in 2011; Aasha workers are getting what was decided in 2005, and mid-day meal workers get the same Rs 1,000 that was decided initially. Even the budget for MNREGS has not increased. On the other hand, this government considers the MPs the poorest lot in the country. It has made a provision that a a three-member committee will decide after every five years the automatic increase in their salaries and allowance in tune with inflation."

"Due to GST, there are nine schemes for workers and labourers that are about to die. We were promised that the government will take care of them, but there was not any provision for the same in the Budget," Kumar said.

"This government wants everyone else, but for itself, to respect the Supreme Court. Despite a SC directive, the government has not made any provision of equal pay for equal work, even as 67 per cent of contractual labour works for the government."