Published in The Canary, 17 February 2026.
On 12 February, a joint platform of 10 Central Trade Unions (CTUs) in India organised a nationwide strike to protest the Modi government’s anti-labour, pro-corporatisation, and pro-USA policies. Those organising the general strike include the Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU), the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), the All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), and the Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS).
There were disruptions across key sectors such as coal, banking, transport, and agriculture. The workers heeding their calls of the CTUs shut down thousands of coal fields, refineries, factories, and banking operations countrywide, the People’s Dispatch reported.
This came as a huge blow for Modi’s profit-driven economy. And despite the scale of the protest, Western media has kept its distance.
Meanwhile, Claudia Webbe, a former UK Labour MP and ally of Jeremy Corbyn, is breaking the silence. She states “The largest strike in human history, and most of the Western media barely whispered it. That silence is complicity in Modi’s war on workers’ rights. India’s general strike is the future that the billionaires and ruling class fears most”. Read the full report HERE