Kolkata: The CITU on Wednesday termed as "unconstitutional" and "undemocratic" West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urging the Election Commission to ban political parties calling strikes, saying it stemmed from her "desperation".
"It is unconstitutional and undemocratic. The chief minister does not know the Constitution and she is totally ignorant of the authority of the Election Commission," CITU state president Shyamal Chakraborty said.
"It is her desperation as people did not succumb to the pressure tactics of the state government. Her statement is not based on logic," he said.
The CITU leader said that strike was the right of the working class which could not be taken away by force.
He said Indira Gandhi had unsuccessfully tried to take away people`s democratic rights.
"Indira Gandhi was the prime minister of the country, who dared to go to that extent and she had to go out of power for it," Chakraborty said.
INTUC leader Ramen Pandey said the chief minister`s appeal to the EC was uncalled for and absurd in a democratic set-up.
"It appears that she seeks to impose dictatorship," he said, accusing the Trinamool Congress leader of herself calling bandhs and strikes in the state in recent past.
CPI(M) leader Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said that the Election Commission had no authority to ban any political parties for calling a strike.
PTI
