Bankers To Not Participate In 8 Dec's Bharat Bandh

Bank unions have said that they will not participate in the 'Bharat Bandh' on Tuesday, even as they expressed solidarity with farmers protesting against the new farm laws.

Farmer groups, camping at various Delhi border points for over a week, have called for a nationwide shutdown on Tuesday to protest against three recently enacted agriculture-related legislations.

All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC) General Secretary Soumya Datta told news agency PTI that the union has expressed its solidarity with farmers but will not be participating in the Bharat Bandh called by them.

Similarly, All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) General Secretary C H Venkatachalam also told PTI that the union would not go on strike or abstain from work but it supports the farmers' agitation.

Union members would wear black batches while on duty, stage protest after or before working hours and display placards before bank branches to support the cause of farmers of the country, Venkatachalam said, but added that banking operation will not be hit.

Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, have been protesting against the three agriculture laws enacted by the central government this year. While the government argues that these reforms will remove the middlemen and enhance farmers' income, the farmers maintain that the laws will mean largescale withdrawal of government support and replacement of existing middlemen with more powerful large corporates.

Meanwhile, farmer leaders have said that nobody would be forced to observe 'Bharat Bandh' on Tuesday and that emergency services will be allowed.