Planters hit out at GNLF tea campaign

VIVEK CHHETRI , TT,  28 Sep 2019, Darjeeling: The Darjeeling Tea industry has reacted strongly against the Gorkha National Liberation Front's threat to "unleash social media warriors" to reach out to the international market and highlight alleged "apathy" against workers, saying "only a politically naïve leader" would draw a parallel with the blood diamond movement.

Ajoy Edwards, president, GNLF Darjeeling branch committee, had on Thursday told The Telegraph that if the bonus issue was not settled immediately they would reach out to the international buyers and consumers highlighting the apathy of the workers.

"We are drawing our inspiration from the Blood Diamond movement. Similar to the blood diamond initiative, we want to tell international buyers and consumers that they are not sipping Darjeeling Tea but simply blood and sweat of our workers," said Edwards.

Blood diamonds also called Conflict Diamonds was a coin termed to describe stones that are produced in area controlled by "rebel forces" that are opposed to "internationally recognised governments". It was alleged that the rebels sold diamonds to purchase arms and fund their military action.

The target was basically against diamonds originating from Sierra Leone, Angola, Congo, Liberia and Ivory Coast.

Sandeep Mukherjee, principal adviser, Darjeeling Tea Association, said they had taken strong note of the statement: "Only a politically naïve person would draw a parallel with the blood diamond movement. The leader does not even know about wages of the industryEdwards had said that the workers were just being paid "about $2" per day.

"The daily wage of a tea garden worker is Rs 176 and then we pay provident fund, gratuity, bonus and other fringe benefits," said Mukherjee. "Leaders should not be oblivious about the wage component when making such serious commentsThe industry has accused the unions of trying to "precipitate" the situation by announcing agitations when talks are still on. The state government has called a bonus meeting on September 30 in Calcutta..v>