KCR’s crackdown on TSRTC strike a reminder of Jayalalithaa’s iron hand strategy

On Sunday, in Hyderabad, KCR seemed to channel the very same anger as Jayalalithaa when he said, "There will be no more talks with the unions."

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"He is behaving like Tuglakh, like Hitler."

"He didn't give us these jobs, then how can he remove us?"

"We are fighting for the protection of democracy."

"This is a cowardly decision and will not benefit anyone."



These are merely a handful of accusations hurled at Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao by the striking State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) employees, over the last week. After the CM's refusal to concede to their 26 demands, the employees' anger spilled on to the streets in the form of protests. Their demands ranged from hike in salary and additional benefits to the merging of the corporation with the state government.

KCR however refused to have talks with the unions representing 50,000 odd employees. Instead, much to their shock, the CM went on the offensive. When public transportation came to a grinding halt after protests, he decided to hire 2,500 buses and recruit staff to ply them. He then gave a deadline for employees to return to work and when they didn't, he announced that as of Sunday, the corporation only had 1,200 staff.

And even as the Chief Minister took a hard stand, his actions brought to mind the tale of another leader who had taken a similar decision over 15 years ago.

In 2003, then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, quashed a similar protest in the state and even earned the approval of the Supreme court for her actions.

When over one lakh state government employees and teachers decided to go on strike in July that year, the Chief Minister merely watched on unperturbed.

Unions representing over 13 lakh employees and teachers were part of the agitation, protesting the withdrawal of dearness allowance and cash benefits under the pension scheme. If allowed to gain momentum, the protest could have crippled the functioning of the government.

The Chief Minister's initial reaction befuddled political observers but her calm demeanor turned out to be a warning for the storm which was to be unleashed.

Before the protests could take root, she struck back - preventive arrests, cases against employees and dismissals from the very first week splintered the groups, creating internal differences. On the very second day of the protests, she dismissed 2,500 secretariat staff.

Over the next 20 days, thousands of employees were arrested under the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) and over one lakh workers were dismissed.

Two weeks into the protest, she warned, "They (employees) should realise their duties before fighting for their rights. The government employees form only 2 per cent of the state's population. I can't cater to all the demands of this minority ignoring the interests of the 98 per cent."

And by the third week, leaders from 80 unions were forced to request her to get their members reinstated.

On Sunday, in Hyderabad, KCR seemed to take the same tone as he said, "There will be no more talks with the unions. The government’s priority would be to ensure the TSRTC gets back to making profits. It has been incurring a loss of Rs 1,200 crore year after year, and its accumulated losses are about Rs 5,000 crore.While the ever-rising fuel prices are becoming a burden, the employees went on a strike, which is unethical and illegal."

Senior journalist Kalyan Arun, who has been writing on Tamil Nadu politics for three decades points out that the trend of taking the bull by its horns began with former TN Chief Minister MG Ramachandran.

"In 1978, when faced with protests from transport employees he simply got private drivers to take over. He told them to come with licenses, get registered and start driving," he explains. "Back then too, ESMA was invoked to ban the strike. He however didn't dismiss anyone from their jobs," he adds.

The senior journalist believes that politically it may benefit KCR to take a tough stand.

"Currently, the Telangana Chief Minister, does not have a favourable public perception because of the way he has handled farmers' issues and even his move to get a new secretariat has not been received well by the public," he says. "By taking a definite stand on this issue, he can gain politically," he adds.

But Jayasree Balasubramanian, a former journalist, points out that Jayalalithaa's actions were considered largely autocratic.

"She even had 150 media persons detained in that particular term. Government employees and media are all pillars of democracy. The big picture is that she shook these pillars. This worked against her," she says.

Jayasree points out that Jayalalithaa was defeated in the next assembly election.

"There were several other issues that played against her - like the anti-conversion bill for instance. But the way she handled these protests was also a factor," she says. "Jayalalithaa however did soften her blow in the end and did not press charges against the arrested employees," she adds.

Similarly MGR too held talks with unions and gave into a few demands.

"The public only cares if their buses are running and if they can move around. There is very little sympathy for government employees because they are believed to be over paid and under-worked," says Kalyan. "But this doesn't mean that they should be completely cut off. KCR should make his authority clear and then sit down to talk on his own terms. The reasonable demands must be considered," he explains.

(With inputs from Mithun MK)