2-day All-India bank strike against privatisation begins today

A Report titled "Privatisation of Public Sector Banks: Against Public Interest" prepared by a team of economists under the aegis of the AIBOC was released earlier this week at New Delhi's Constitution Club.

While presenting the Report, economist Dr. Prasenjit Bose explained the important role played by the public sector banks in taking banking to the rural areas and ensuring financial inclusion. He expressed apprehension regarding the reversal of these gains if PSBs are privatised.

Several Members of Parliament and political leaders spoke in the public discussion which followed the presentation of the Report and opposed the tabling of the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021. Criticising the government for resorting to reckless privatisation across various sectors, Lok Sabha MP Saugata Roy strongly opposed the move to privatise banks on behalf of his party, the All India Trinamool Congress. Shri Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Kalyan Banerjee and Dola Sen from the All India Trinamool Congress also expressed their strong opposition to the proposed legislation.

Rajya Sabha MP Syed Naseer Hussain from the Congress expressed solidarity with the struggle being waged by the bank officers and employees against bank privatisation. He urged the bankers to follow the example of the farmers and launch agitation on the streets if the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 is ever passed by the parliament.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Nilotpal Basu called for the broadest possible unity of all the stakeholders of the public sector banks in order to resist bank privatisation. He called the massive NPA write-offs by the PSBs as a systemic theft of public resources by delinquent large corporates.

AIBOC leadership called upon all customers and other stakeholders of public sector banks to express solidarity with the 2 day All-India Bank Strike against Bank Privatisation on December 16 and 17, 2021.