LDF failed to handle ASHA workers' protest properly: CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam

CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam on Sunday said the outgoing LDF government failed to properly handle the protest by ASHA workers in Kerala. CPI is evaluating the Assembly election performance in which the LDF was reduced to 35 seats in the 140-member Assembly. The Kerala ASHA Health Workers Association (KAHWA) had staged a 265-day protest last year, demanding that their honorarium be increased to Rs 21,000 and that they be given Rs 5 lakh in post-retirement benefits, demands that the LDF government did not accept. ''The Left government should have had a different approach in handling protests like the one by ASHA workers. It should not behave like a right-wing government. A Left government should not disrespect workers' protests or look down upon them. But that happened,'' Viswam said. He said ASHA workers should naturally have been close to the Left movement, but they became distanced from the front. Viswam said the electoral defeat was a warning that communist organisations must give priority to the people. He said that while evaluating the election performance, the party would examine whether comrades and people close to the Left had distanced themselves from the movement. He also said that personality cult is not promoted within the Left parties, and that if such a tendency had developed, it would be a flaw. Viswam clarified that there was no demand for a leadership change in the CPI. He added that the decision regarding the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly would be taken by the CPI(M). However, he said the CPI would stake a claim to the post of Deputy Leader of Opposition.

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