The week-long protests by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), a wing of the CPI(M), in Thiruvarppu in Kerala’s Kottayam against bus owner Raj Mohan ended in a clash between the two sides on Sunday, June 25. Local CITU leader Ajai KR was arrested by the Kumarakom police for attacking Raj Mohan.
The issue started a few months ago when workers at Raj Mohan’s Vettikulangara bus service sought a hike in their wages. CITU members say that the last wage hike happened five years ago, and since then there have been multiple calamities, including the floods and the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused huge losses to the business. However, when they asked for an increment after waiting for five years, the stand-off began. According to Ajai, there were multiple meetings, and while Raj Mohan had agreed to increase the wages marginally, he failed to implement it leading to the current protest. Raj Mohan, a Gulf returnee, is the vice-president of the BJP Kumarakom assembly committee.
Speaking to TNM, Ajai said that the workers’ issue was that Raj Mohan was not addressing their concerns about the low wages. “Instead of talking to us about the wages, he started selling lottery tickets amidst our protests. It was an attempt to divert attention,” he said. He was referring to the incident where Raj Mohan started selling lottery tickets in front of a bus after the protesting workers stopped the bus service. Raj Mohan called it ‘Times Square Lucky Centre’, a dig at the recent speech by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at Times Square in New York.
Raj Mohan, however, said that he had increased the wages in the last month leading to losses to his business. “The agreement between us was that on days we get good collections, the drivers will be paid Rs 1,235 and conductors will be paid Rs 1,070. On days when the collection is not good, they will be paid Rs 1,000 and Rs 925 respectively. I was paying accordingly, despite losses in the past month. But I cannot keep doing it, so I had conveyed this to them,” he said. Three out of the four buses have resumed service, Raj Mohan added.
As part of the protests, union flags were erected on the front of the buses. Raj Mohan had obtained a Kerala High Court order allowing him to resume operations. Based on police directions, he removed the flags when Ajai attacked him. Ajai was taken into custody by the police and his arrest was later recorded. Ajay K Menon, another CPI(M) leader, said that they were not against the High Court order and will take up the issue with higher authorities in the Labour Department.