Strike violence leaves 10 dead

Press, 21 January 1982, Page 6

Strike violence leaves 10 dead

NZPA-Reuter New Delhi A 24-hour anti-Government national strike in India in which at least 10 people were killed, ended yesterday amid conflicting assessments of its full impact.

National trade union leaders hailed the stoppage as a great success, but official reports said that workers largely remained on duty. the stoppage, called by eight major labour federations and Opposition parties, was the toughest challenge the Prime Minister (Mrs Indira Gandhi) has faced since she returned to power two years ago.

More than 6000 people were detained on the eve of the strike, which was called to protest against the Government’s stringent preventive detention and anti-strike powers.

Worst-hit by the stoppage was the Leftist State of West Bengal where four people died and 50 others were injured in clashes between members of the Communist Party, which backed the stoppage, and supporters of

Mrs Gandhi's Congress (1) Party, a Government offical said.

The police shot dead three people in Southern Tamil Nadu and northern Uttar Pradesh States in dispersing strikers, All India Radio reported. The strike was backed by the Left-front Government in West Bengal and the State’s Chief Minister (Mr Jyoti BasU) said it was “nearly complete” in his State. Leaders of the Marxist Centre of Indian Trade Unions said disruption was also widespread in Bihar in the north, the southern State of Kerala, Maharashtra in the west, and Delhi. A spokesman for the national campaign committee sponsoring.the strike said the stoppage in Delhi hit banks, insurance companies, newspapers and news agencies, and the two main textile mills. the Minister of State, for Labour (Mr Bhagwat Jha Azad), however, said the strike was a failure and normal conditions prevailed throughout the country.