Telecom TU Movement  1991 to 2015  (1)  –    V.A.N.Namboodiri

The Bhopal All India Conference October 1991

The All India Conference of the All India Telecom Employees Union Class III, affiliated to the National Federation of Telecom Employees (NFTE) was held at Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, from 24^th to 29^th October 1991, which was a milestone in the trade union movement of the telecom workers. About five thousand delegates participated. All the arrangements were made under the leadership of Com. N.T.Sajwani, Secretary of the Reception Committee. Com. Homi Daji M.P., All India President of the Union, who hailed from M.P. was fully available at the Conference.

The Conference was held after a long period than provided in the constitution of the union. There were severe criticisms in the union with regard to the policies and decisions taken by the leadership. The agreement on cadre restructuring with the management was anti-worker and there was serious discontentment. Upgradation was limited to those having higher qualification or passing examination. Seniority and experience were ignored. More than one lakh existing posts were going to be reduced as per the agreement. The union compromised with the decision of the department to implement ban on recruitment.

The leaders and active workers at various levels, who were critical of the functioning of the General Secretary Com. O.P.Gupta and the policies being adopted by him, were systematically removed from the posts of office-bearers. This process was being continued for a very long time to silence all criticism against CHQ leadership. Strongly protesting against such a situation, three all India Office-bearers of the union, viz. Coms. Moni Bose, Vice-President, J.Renganathan, Vice-President and V.A.N.Namboodiri, Asst. General Secretary resigned from their respective posts and issued pamphlets exposing the compromises being made by the CHQ leadership which are against the interest of the workers.

OPG and his supporters tried to silence the delegates who were critical of him, by not allowing them to speak. However, Moni Bose, V.A.N.Namboodiri, J.Renganathan, Ananta Bhattacharjee, M.N.Reddy, Shibdas Banerjee and other leaders through their scathing attacks exposed the pro-management and anti-worker agreements made by the OPG leadership. The three office-bearers who resigned from the posts explained why they were compelled to take the drastic action.

 The Election of Office-Bearers

OPG got the biggest shock, when the agenda of election of office-bearers were taken up by Homi Daji, President on the last day of the Conference. In addition to the official panel with O.P.Gupta as General Secretary, another panel with Moni Bose as General Secretary was received. Negotiations failed and contest became unavoidable.

It was not an easy task to prepare for the election with about 5000 delegates. The vote of each circle/delegate has to be calculated, ballot papers prepared and polling arrangements to be made. It was a herculean task. It took hours to finalise the modalities and arrangements. This was the first time that any serious contest took place in the E-III Union, the biggest of the unions in the NFPTE/NFTE. The office-bearers were usually unanimously elected. OPG was the General Secretary since its formation in 1954.

Homi Daji, President, was nominated as the Presiding Officer to conduct he election with the help of Assisting Presiding Officer Com.J.Renganathan. Circle secretaries were authorised to look after the voting of their respective circles.

OPG, using the Circle Secretaries, who were mostly his close associates, tried every method to rig the election in his favour. Delegates were threatened to vote for OPG and team. They ridiculed Moni Bose and Namboodiri, predicted their utter defeat, stating that whoever contested OPG in E.III Union was never able to win.

On the other side, Moni Bose-Namboodiri team went to each and every delegate and explained the reasons for their contesting the posts. There was much appreciation to their stand. They organised rallies in the conference premises, which was held in a big maidan, displayed banners and posters explaining their position. The entire atmosphere was in an election mode. Though the scheduled date for the Conference was almost over, a good number of delegates stayed to cast their votes. (To be continued).