Protesters wielding Communist flags clashed with police in Kolkata on Wednesday as millions of workers across India went on strike, the latest display of opposition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s economic reform package.
Modi’s plan for reviving India’s slowing economy has met with fierce protest and Wednesday’s strike came days after the premier abandoned a pro-industry land reform which the opposition had said would hurt India’s farmers.
Unions called the one-day action against Modi’s plans to loosen rigid labor laws, which they say will put jobs at risk.
Nearly 150 million workers in banking, manufacturing and construction, backed by 10 major unions, stayed away from work. Taxi and rickshaw drivers stayed off the streets in Delhi, and shops and banks closed in left-wing stronghold Kerala in the south.
In Modi’s home state of Gujarat, banking services were hit. Industry group ASSOCHAM estimated the strike cost the economy $3.7 billion.
