Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had proposed the privatization and disinvestment of Public sector Banks in the Budget session. The Finance Minister is not going to have it easy with the way bank employees and the citizenry have risen against this decision.
Around a million employees participated in this two-day nationwide strike.
UFBU, an umbrella body of nine unions, had given a strike call for March 15 and 16, and claimed that about 10 lakh bank employees and officers of the banks will participate in the strike.
Members of UFBU include All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC), National Confederation of Bank Employees (NCBE), All India Bank Officers’ Association (AIBOA) and Bank Employees Confederation of India (BEFI).
Nearly a million bank staff joined the protest on Monday. Banking operations were severely hit as officers and employees of public sector lenders went on a strike to protest against the proposed privatisation of two state-owned banks.
I stand in solidarity with bank employees ! #BankStrike pic.twitter.com/JW72rI44J4
— Rukshmanii kumari (@KumariRukshmani) March 16, 2021
Also read: Three Student Activists in Chandigarh Arrested for Protesting Against a Rape
Protests happened in Bangalore at the Mysore bank circle. Protesters were activists, bank employees, job seekers, young and old concerned citizens who had gathered and had a lot of anger against the state of the country.
Sarovar Benkikere of Karnataka Vidyarthi Sangathane (KVS) spoke to gaurilankeshnews team and demanded some answers from the govt. Sarovar said- Why are we going to Jio. Why there are no attempts being made to save BSNL?
Our demand is to save banks to nationalise banks and stop privatisation. Schools and colleges should also be nationalised.
Sushma, a Bank employee was also there and expressed her concerns about the privatisation of banks and spoke about the two-day anti corporatisation and anti privatisation bank strike.
She said- “There have been 50 yrs since Indira Gandhi nationalised banks and now they are nationalising everything and same with private banks. This will affect the public the most. Banks don’t hesitate to give large loans to corporates which are then written off and this results in Non-performing assets for the bank and for govt the only solution is privatise the bank. Most affected will be the public rural banks and farmers whose lending will be stopped. We all know what happens after privatisation. Jobs will be affected. There wont be any transparency. I hope this anti privatization protest grows into a bigger movement.
Congregation at @pnbindia Zonal Office, Kolkata.
Well done team Kolkata. More to follow.
PC: Anonymous#BankStrike #SpeakUpOnStrike #IndiaNeedPSBs pic.twitter.com/wwH6eWUJKE
— महाप्रबंधक (@mahaprabandhak) March 16, 2021
The government has already privatised IDBI Bank by selling its majority stake in the lender to LIC in 2019, and has merged 14 public sector banks in the last four years.
List of 26 PSUs to be Sold .. apart from 12 Banks & Insurance companies to the likes of Adani & Ambani:
1) Project & Development India Ltd (PDIL)
2) Engineering Projects India Ltd (EPIL)
3) Pawan Hans Limited (PHL)
4) B & R Company Limited (B&R)#IndiaAgainstPrivatisation (1/5)— Gaurav Pandhi (@GauravPandhi) March 15, 2021
The other members are the Indian National Bank Employees Federation (INBEF), Indian National Bank Officers Congress (INBOC), National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW) and National Organisation of Bank Officers (NOBO).
Also read: How do the Modi Government’s Farm Laws Violate the UN Declaration?
2nd day of #BankStrike
Pic1:Lucknow Pic2: Chennai pic.twitter.com/5WE85vjgZ2— Akash (@Akashnotthesky) March 16, 2021
GOI is privatising profit & nationalising loss.
Selling PSBs to Modicronies gravely compromises India’s financial security.
I stand in solidarity with the striking bank employees.#BankStrike
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 16, 2021
“We have got a tremendous response. Our strike call has also been supported by the National Confederation of Officers Association, farmers, CITU and AITUC,” All India Bank Officers Confederation (AIBOC) joint general secretary Sanjoy Das said.
“There are around 6,000 branches of public, private and foreign banks in West Bengal. Most of the bank branches in the state are closed due to the strike. ATMs are not functioning except those located at hospitals, railway stations and airports,” he added.
मोदी सरकार की बैंक निजीकरण की नीति के खिलाफ बैंक कर्मचारियों का जंतर-मंतर पर प्रदर्शन#Delhi #BankStrike #bankprivatisation @iammanish1212 pic.twitter.com/1xfNwizhb2
— News24 (@news24tvchannel) March 16, 2021
Banking services in Maharashtra were also severely hit as around 40,000 bank employees and officers joined the strike.
Dear @sardanarohit ,
I am a PSB Bankers, and oppose Privatisation of Public Sector.
We oppose Gov move to handover public money to their Corporate Friends and we are on strike from Yesterday.
Kindly #SpeakUpOnStrike and show this on your Prime Time.#BankStrike
— Seema (@2019Seema) March 16, 2021
UFBU’s Maharashtra convenor Devidas Tuljapurkar in a statement said that about 40,000 bank employees and officers working in about 10,000 bank branches across the state have joined the nationwide strike.
Union bank of India
South Mumbai Regional office, MS Marg Mumbai.#BankStrike @tiwariaditi0909 @idesibanda @AdaShriadhar @Mumbai_Branch pic.twitter.com/dOPjF426U8— PAWAN JANGID ??? (@PawanJa155) March 15, 2021
5 Trends against Bank's Privatization
✔️#BankSurgicalStrike
✔️#IndiaNeedPSBs
✔️#SpeakUpOnStrike
✔️#BankStrike
✔️#bankprivatisation pic.twitter.com/Jx44HXw8Ah— Newton Bank Kumar (@idesibanda) March 16, 2021
Selling of PSUs to the private sectors by this Govt is a "Colossal mistake".
-Raghuram Rajan#StrikeToSaveIndia#IndiaAgainstPrivatisation #BankStrike pic.twitter.com/fSoJRcwA7R— Mokibur Hassan? (@HassanMokibur) March 15, 2021
West Bengal: United Forum of Bank Union has called a two-day nationwide strike today and tomorrow, against privatisation of Public Sector Banks and 'retrograde banking reforms'. Visuals from Siliguri as banks remain closed.#BankStrike #IndiaAgainstPrivatisation pic.twitter.com/rcaQdHqTwC
— Tribal Army (@TribalArmy) March 15, 2021
#BankSurgicalStrike #BankStrike in Lucknow against #bankprivatisation pic.twitter.com/lPdCk5ppWt
— #BankStrike (@abhishekboi1) March 16, 2021
Click here to subscribe to our youtube channel
[…] announcement by Sitharaman was followed by a protests by almost a million bank employees and officers throughout the country as part of the two-day […]