At the call of central trade unions Make the All India General Strike on February 12, 2026, a great success!

Friends,

The Modi government is fully prepared to implement the four Labour Codes. After notification on November 21st, central rules are being formulated to implement them. Then, the four Labour Codes will be implemented from April 1st, 2026. The government is using widespread false propaganda to portray these codes as beneficial to workers.

The four Labour Codes, enacted by abolishing all labour laws that previously provided legal protection and certain rights to workers, will enslave workers to their employers. They will be pushed back to a situation that dates back 100-150 years. These codes will exclude a large segment of workers from the status and scope of "worker," endangering their very existence. These labour laws, which provide legal protection to workers, were achieved through the struggles and sacrifices of the Indian people against British (colonial) rule. Therefore, these codes, enacted by abolishing labour laws, are a major attack on the country's Constitution and precisely a part of the Modi government's conspiracy to subvert it. The country's labour movement has been opposing these codes from the very beginning, demanding their repeal. In fact, these codes were introduced at the behest of employers and with the support of the RSS-BJP-affiliated trade union, the BMS. These codes were introduced to push the "ease of doing business" to ensure exorbitant profits for corporates/employers by draining workers. Also, the government has come up with Shram Shakti Niti 2025 (National Labour and Employment Policy of India) which characterizes labour as “Dharma” (sacred and moral duty) and no rights.

Starting with the issuance of the codes, the Modi government has launched a series of attacks within a month.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which provides employment to the poorest of the poor, has been abolished and replaced by the "Viksit Bharat- Employment and Livelihood Guarantee Mission (Rural) Act, 2025" (VB-GRAMG); and Mahatma Gandhi's name has also been removed. This new law, at a time when the country is grappling with high unemployment, eliminates the need and rights-based rural employment guarantee, introducing a system based on the whims of the central government, and shifts the financial burden to the states. It prohibits the law from operating during the harvest season, ensuring cheap labour for landowners. Not only this, it is mainly aimed at creating a vast army of cheap labour for industries. Without any work in rural areas, they will be forced to migrate to cities in search of employment and in turn become part of vast army of cheap labour.

While coal, railways, defense, education, health, etc., are undergoing rapid privatization/corporatization, a law has been enacted allowing 100% foreign direct investment in the insurance sector, which will give foreign companies the right to take over the domestic insurance system, making this social security system inaccessible to the general public. Additionally, the government has issued the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2025, and the Seed Bill, to hand over power and agriculture to corporates like Adanis and Ambanis. If passed, these bills will have a devastating impact on agriculture, domestic and MSME electricity consumers, and the country's public power sector. Furthermore, the highly sensitive and hazardous nuclear power production sector has been handed over to private and foreign companies, jeopardizing the country's nuclear security and sovereignty. To this end, the "Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (Shanti) Act" has been passed. The workers and the people of the country demand Repeal of all these Acts and Bills.

All these laws are being introduced in the name of “Viksit Bharat” (developed India), which will, in reality, belong to Adani and Ambani, not to the people of the country, not to "we the people of India." While the gap between rich and poor has reached its peak, the poor are being deprived of everything from their rights to basic amenities, turning them into an army of slaves for Modi's "Viksit Bharat." Labour codes, including 12-hour work, police rule and bulldozer rule, along with communal hatred and division, are being made the destiny of these working and deprived people. Furthermore, by resorting to "vote theft" and turning the Election Commission into its own pocket organization, the Modi government is depriving the poor on a large scale of their right to vote.

To respond to these all-out attacks on the working class by the Modi government, the country's central trade unions have declared an all-India strike on February 12, 2026. The time has come for workers to plunge in a decisive fight to protect their rights and existence. The situation demands of the working class to intensify militant united struggles to thwart these attacks.

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) has extended its full support to this strike. We call on the entire working class and all other sections of the toiling masses to launch a massive campaign and make this strike a resounding success, giving a befitting reply to the Modi government's attacks.

Let us wage a long-term battle against the Labour Codes and the VB-GRAMG Act and other attacks, with the same tenacity, strength, and determination that enabled India's farmers to achieve historic success in repealing the draconian agricultural laws. Let us make this strike a resounding success and brace ourselves for a larger and longer fight!