The Communist Party of India (Marxist) Saturday issued a blistering statement demanding the immediate withdrawal of the four new Labour Codes implemented by the Government.
The party’s Polit Bureau condemned the codes as a move designed to establish a “jungle raj” that unilaterally favours the corporate class over the rights of workers.
The four codes—The Code on Wages (2019), Industrial Relations Code (2020), Code on Social Security (2020), and Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code (2020)—which consolidate 29 existing labour laws, came into effect on Friday, November 21, 2025.
While the government maintains the reforms simplify laws and expand social security, including for gig workers, critics argue they fundamentally dismantle workers’ protections.
The CPI(M) Polit Bureau asserted that the new legislation is not a simplification but a deliberate dilution of hard-won rights.
“The Labour Codes dismantle 29 hard-won labour laws that have, till now, protected the workers to some extent,” the statement read, adding that the new Codes “seek to dilute and abolish long-established existing rights and entitlements and shift the balance sharply in favour of employers.”
The party rejected the government’s justification for the codes, which have been presented as catalysts for job creation and investment.
“The Government’s claim that the Labour Codes will boost employment and investment is completely baseless,” the Polit Bureau stated. It further alleged that the codes’ true purpose is to attract capital by nullifying regulations: “Their aim is to lure national and international capital by ensuring that all meaningful regulations covering various aspects of labour rights will be nullified.”
The CPI(M) also strongly condemned the process of notification, accusing the government of bypassing democratic processes and disregarding the concerns of trade unions.
The Polit Bureau “condemns the gross obnoxious violation of democratic and federal norms in pushing these Codes without genuine tripartite consultation with the stakeholders, particularly the workers.”
The statement further highlighted the alleged authoritarian nature of the implementation: “The Government sidelined trade unions throughout the process and rushed the legislation through Parliament without debate.”
A core concern for the party is the perceived threat to collective action, with the codes being seen as an attempt to stifle worker resistance.
“Further, they seek to snatch away the right to strike and criminalise any collective action by the working class,” the statement warned, asserting that the reforms, “in totality, seek to establish a jungle raj by unilaterally empowering the corporate class to bulldoze the rights and entitlements of workers with proactive sponsorship of the Government and administration.”
In a final appeal, the CPI(M) called upon the working class and other democratic entities to mount a unified resistance against the new laws.
“The CPI(M) calls for the immediate withdrawal of the Labour Codes and urges all trade unions and democratic forces to build united struggles to resist the authoritarian design of the Government and defend the rights and entitlements of the working people,” the statement concluded.
The implementation of the codes has been met with widespread condemnation from a joint platform of ten major Central Trade Unions, who have also described the move as “anti-worker and pro-employer” and have called for a nationwide day of protest.