Workers top agenda as CPI(M) looks to retain Perambur seat

Not for him the garish display of influence and organised crowds. A Soundarajan, the CPI(M) candidate and sitting MLA from Perambur Assembly constituency, sits at a tea shop in MKB Nagar reading a newspaper.

It is around 5 pm. A couple of mini vans decked up with the party’s hammer-and-sickle symbol, and pictures of the party’s partners is parked close to the pavement.

Perambur and MKB Nagar have seen better days. Since 2001, this constituency has supported the CPI(M).

MKB Nagar, like the rest of Perambur constituency is a picture of contrasts – broad roads in parts, narrow ones cutting off from the main streets lined with tenements, and low-income group housing set in spacious grounds. Tenements built a few decades ago, when land in the city was not at a premium.

MKB Nagar, short for Mahakavi Bharathiar Nagar, like the rest of North Chennai, was once a part of the heart of the city, which has over the years grown and prospered further south.

AS, as Soundararajan is popularly referred to, says MKB Nagar has a majority of its residents dependent on the unorganised sector for jobs. Possibly one-fifth are government employees, and small businessmen and traders are also present.

Earlier in the afternoon, interacting with BusinessLine ahead of the street campaign, Soundararajan says the DMDK-People’s Welfare Front-Tamil Maanila Congress alliance (with the CPI(M) a part of the PWF that also includes CPI, Vaiko’s MDMK and the VCK, has made it clear that it will fight for the traditional industries that contributes substantially towards employment generation. These include industries in the State such as textiles, leather, matchstick and fireworks.

It is important that the workers of the unorganised sector get adequate wages. The alliance is keen on securing them a minimum wage of at least ₹18,000. This is a segment that is growing continuously as people leave rural areas for cities seeking employment.

Even in the organised sector, the alliance is keen on ensuring workers’ ability for collective bargaining and formation of recognised unions in large companies, including multinationals. Workers have been adversely affected by the trend of employing contract labour rather than permanent staff.

This is a trait not just in the modern manufacturing sector but also in IT.

Major political parties such as the AIADMK and the DMK have put employment generation on the backburner and are keen on wangling votes with freebies.

Around 5.15 pm AS nods his head at supporters and the gathering moves towards the waiting vehicles. He gets on to the minivan and starts off the procession with a short speech reminding the voters of his efforts develop the constituency over the last five years.

He criticises both Dravidian parties, which have been in power at various times for close to five decades, but have done little for development. Both are tainted by corruption charges.

“A change is needed, vote for clean governance…all of the leaders of the six political parties in the DMDK-led alliance have a clean image and can provide a corruption-free government,” he assures.

Voters have to resolve to support a party that gives a corruption-free government for the benefit of the people, he says. The procession of half a dozen vehicles then moves on into the by-lanes of MKB Nagar to canvass votes.

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