Terming the January 30 stake sale in Coal India as a “betrayal” and “violation” of assurances given by the Coal Ministry after their strike earlier this month, trade unions said they will hold day-long protests and dharnas on Friday against 10 per cent stake sale in the public sector entity.

In one of the biggest industrial actions in 30 years, five coal unions backed by central unions of all political hues, including RSS-backed Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, went on a five-day strike early this month demanding withdrawal of the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Ordinance, 2014, de-nationalisation of the coal sector among others. The strike was called off in two days after Coal Minister Piyush Goal constituted a committee to look into their demands.

“Without even calling a meeting of the committee, the government has gone back on its commitment. This is the bane of the National Democratic Alliance government, which is based on falsehood,” All India Trade Union Congress secretary G L Dhar said in a statement.

Tapan Sen, Rajya Sabha MP and general secretary of Centre of Indian Trade Unions, which had opposed withdrawal of the strike, said the Central government is “desperate for mass scale privatisation of national assets and natural resources”, adding that “offloading shares of Coal India to private hands is nothing but to restart the process of its gradual privatisation, the ground of which has already been created through an ordinance and the related Bill for de-nationalisation of the sector.”

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