It is a measure of the popularity of Labour and Employment Minister Oscar Fernandes among his colleagues and his closeness to party chief Sonia Gandhi that his statement linking excessive use of contract labour with the lynching of L K Choudhary (CEO of an Italian auto-parts manufacturer in Greater Noida) didn’t get played up beyond a point. After a meeting with senior Cabinet colleagues, after which Fernandes issued the obligatory I’ve-been-misunderstood statement, the matter died a natural death.
How close Fernandes is to Gandhi, of course, is best seen from Gandhi’s reaction when he was sworn in as a minister in 2006. “It’s a great loss for the party that he had to be spared for ministerial duties; he is such a hard worker that it’s impossible to find a replacement,” Gandhi said amidst the chandelier-lit celebrations at Rashtrapati Bhawan. One of her most trusted lieutenants, A K Antony, had also been inducted as the defence minister minutes before this. But Gandhi mentioned only Fernandes.
He may not be a key member in the major policy-making think-tank of the party or the government, but the sheer amount of work that he handles explains why he is so much in demand. The party has more than 20 general secretaries but Gandhi waited for Fernandes to return from Geneva to finalise the dates and start preparations for the party’s extended Working Committee meet held recently.
On an average day, Fernandes works for 16 to 18 hours. This reporter once got an appointment at 10 pm which kept getting delayed as Fernandes was involved with some party work. The interview finally took place at 11:30 pm, and there were a least 100 more people lined up to meet the minister. A group from Dharwad wanted a new road, while a gentleman armed with a Hawaiian guitar waited to demonstrate his music to Fernandes. Okram Ibobi Singh, the chief minister of Manipur, was waiting in another room, while the state’s resident commissioner in Delhi remained standing. “If I sit, I’ll fall asleep,” he said.
Fernandes entered the room looking fresh as a daisy and, when the visitors left him well past midnight, many were told “remember, you came here yesterday and are leaving today!”
The hard-working man, however, is yet to make a mark as a labour minister. He came at a time when the Left prevented the government from carrying out any labour reforms and now that the Left is no longer in the picture, there’s hardly any time to push any legislation. His pet bill — to provide social security to unorganised sector workers — also hangs in balance and there are only a few days in the upcoming Parliament session to pass the bill.
He has maintained the Provident Fund interest rate at 8.5 per cent and introduced a few insurance and pension schemes for poor workers. But these are all inadequate alternatives to the much-needed thrust in the labour sector — both in terms of their welfare and addressing industry’s concerns. Fernandes had some plans to implement a hire-and-fire policy which would have allowed the employers trim their workforce at times of crisis but after giving much better compensation to the sacked workers. There hasn’t been much progress in this either.
While the Left didn’t allow him to do what he wanted, Fernandes resisted its pressure as well. Despite the Left’s pressure on the unorganised sector bill, Fernandes refused to make the changes they wanted. The always-angry labour unions, though, also prefer Fernandes to his predecessor, K Chandrasekhar Rao. If only because he’s always available.
