On 18 December 2023, the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) organized a massive morcha in Nagpur, Maharashtra, where the winter session of the state legislature was ongoing. Thousands of workers, most of whom were women from all over the state, came out on the streets to protest against the government’s anti-worker, anti-peasant, and anti-people policies.
Workers from all corners of the state gathered in record-breaking numbers at the Zero Mile Point in Nagpur, with the morcha stretching to Variety Chowk and several workers being unable to enter the already full demonstration site. The size of the morcha surprised even the police, who could not keep half the big road open as they usually do.
Workers from different occupations including ASHA and Anganwadi, school nutrition, construction, gram panchayat, electricity, and domestic workers, marched in Nagpur, shouting slogans condemning the government for failing to provide livelihood to working people.
This morcha was part of a month-long Jan Jagran Yatra organized by AITUC. The yatra started on 20 November in Kolhapur district of Maharashtra and proceeded to Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, Raigad, Mumbai, Thane, Nashik, Aurangabad, Pune, Latur, Nanded, Akola, Gadchiroli, Gondia, and Bhandara, touring all 36 districts of the state. Meetings were conducted in every district. Bike rallies were organized to welcome the yatra in several places.
The main demands of the program included the following: accepting the demands of striking Anganwadi workers, repealing the four labour codes, withdrawing the policy of privatisation and the National Monetisation Policy, fixing a minimum wage of Rs. 26,000 for 8 hours of work, ensuring minimum pension of Rs. 10,000 with dearness allowance to all citizens, strengthening the public distribution system, withdrawing the National Education Policy, providing social security for scheme workers. Workers demanded that the Maharashtra government’s decision to recruit employees via outsourcing should be cancelled and 10% of the state budget should be allocated to education and health sectors each. Workers also demanded the release of jailed journalists, writers, artists and intellectuals as well as an end to the oppression of Dalits, tribals, women, and people belonging to minority communities.
On 18th December, a delegation of AITUC submitted a memorandum of demands to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, who agreed to convene a meeting in Mumbai for further discussion.