Flaying the proposal for disinvestment of state-owned Air India, as proposed by NITI Aayog and accepted by the government, RSS-affiliate Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) on Monday called upon all the airline’s associations and unions to unitedly oppose the move.

“While setting up the public sector, it was declared that these units are meant to serve the country, not for commercial purposes.

“But, today, this sector is being evaluated in terms of business and commercialisation,” said Virjesh Updhayay, BMS General Secretary, in a statement.

He said at a time when the economy was facing serious challenges, with rising unemployment and scarce purchasing power, the government was “refusing to help the public sector.” Instead, it was ready to help public sector banks tide over rising bad loans by private corporates, he added.

The government is clearly following a policy of “sell-out” for the public sector and “bail out” for the private sector, Upadhyay said, threatening country-wide protests against NITI Aayog’s recommendations.

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