Kerala

labour militancy

IT companies

Two days afterobserved a statewide bandh – that too by the BJP, a political non-entity there – the Information Minister of Kerala has landed in Bengaluru to woo the city’s IT giants, saying that the state has lowcompared to Karnataka. Kerala, a Left-leaning state, is infamous for its pro-labour environment, but P K Kunhalikutty believes the God’s Own Country is a better place to do business now.“Labour militancy is a thing of past in Kerala. We have had many problems, but there are no such issues in the state now. It had reached its peak and died down. However, the problem is seen now in Bengaluru, the IT capital of India. The chances of labour militancy are higher in Bengaluru and hence we wantto come to Kerala,” Kunhalikutty said, choosing to forget that only on January 27, the BJP called for a statewide bandh, disrupting services, including IT sector. Ironically, the saffron party doesn’t have a single member in the 140-member Assembly.The minister, who also holds the Industries portfolio, said, “There were widespread protests in Bengaluru after an IT major laid off staff. However, Kerala wouldn’t witness such a issue if such a problem occurred. Most IT companies established in Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi never had such issues. I think Kozhikode is an ideal location for IT companies to set up branches.