COMRADE GUPTA IS IMMORTAL !!

When I think of comrade OPG my thoughts automatically
goes back to 1976 when I first met him alongwith Mrs. Janak Gupta
at the Tamil Nadu Joint Circle Conference of E3 & E4 Unions in
Kumbakonam. Then I was a branch secretary and was attending
the said E3 conference as a delegate from Chenglepattu branch
union. Frankly speaking I was in the anti-Gupta camp at that time
because I was fed with wrong and false information about him by
several comrades eversince I entered the RMS Union during 1972.
But after hearing his inspiring speech for the first time at
Kumbakonam I was completely swayed and begin to rethink about
all the things fed in to my mind against Courrade OPG. Since then
for the last 36 years. I am a pround follower of com.Gupta. I beleived
he had parralled leadership Qualities and long term solutions for the
challenges faced by the working people. Although on some occasions
I differed with Comrade Gupta mainly on political issues I
always kept him in high esteem and respect till last. Our relationship
was one of the father and son. He did not like my political ideas and
naturally criticised me for that but yet he was generous to openly
appreciate my organising capacity.
Com.Gupta was a original thinker and always put the interest
of the worker on the top of his mind. He was very very frank
and open. He led a simple life throughout and was a shining example
for Public Service with humility. At one time I requested him
to come to a hotel for lunch since it was too late and we could not
reach well in time the venue of a conference. But he stubbosuly
refused and told me that we should take food only at the conference
venue and that too along with all our delegates.
He jokingly told me that “Rich men eats when he wants but
poor man eats when he gets food”
Com Gupta is a builder of P & T trade union movement brick
by brick. No other leader is taller than comrade Gupta in leading the
mass of workers for struggles. He was the most “abused” and “misunderstood”
trade union leader in the country. There is no recreation
or any other activities for him except the trade union activities. He
loved every human being. He was the only leader in the country who
had to spend 13 longmonths in Prison just for signing the strike notice.
He was also the only leader who was ousted by his own
comrades from the Union Post while in prison for “not discharging
the responsibilities and duties of the secretary” He donated his plot in
Patel Nagar to the E III Union and on it Dadagosh Bhavan was built
in New Delhi. But some unleashed false Propaganda that the said
property was in the name of Mrs. Janak Gupta. Now everyone knows
that the Dadagosh Bhavan property is only in the name of the Union
and not in the name of any individual. I consider the following three
acheivements of Com.Gupta as the most important landmarks in his
six decades of Union service.
1. Ensured Government Pension to all 3.5 lac employees who
were transferred to BSNL on corporatisation of DTS in
October 2000.
2. Despite ‘ban on recruitment’ morethan one lakh casual and
part-time employees were regularised on the eve of the
corporatisation in Sep 2000.
3. He understood the inevitability of very fast technological advancement
in the Telecom sector and wanted to offset the
adverse impact of modern technology and hence demanded
implementation of “Restructuring” of cadres which has resulted
in the creation of Telecom Mechanic,/ Sr TOA and TTA
Cadres. Due to the Cadre restructing a casual lation previously
longing for a group ‘D’ post on regularisation was not
only made regular but also got the promotion to a group ‘C’
Cadre straight away.
Com.Gupta was a sumbol of unity and struggle. Even after
relinquishing the post of secretary general of NFTE-BSNL at
‘Saharanpur’ All India conference he never stopped worrying about
the workers. His last unfinished job is to get the government Pension
to the employees of MTNL for which he travelled all the way to
Mumbai at the old age and filed a court case. His family is made of
the employees of BSNL in particular and working class in general.
He fought the ‘Verbose’and sectarians’ tooth and Nail throughout his
trade Union career. Had he accepted the theory of “No promotions;
only running scale” advanced by com K.G.Bose and others what would
have happend to our workers? In BSNL a casual labour could become
JTO. Similarly if “No modernisation; No computarisation” theory
of comrades Morni Bose and Namboodri was accepted what would
have happened to the BSNL to-day? When private telecom companies
had already introduced state of the art technologies Can BSNL
lag behind any more?. On both the “Promotions” and “Modernisation”
Com. Gupta stood firm despite nasty propaganda against him by the
so called resolutionaries (?). He boldly bagained with the management
for initially “ 20% Promotions” and then “Time bound Promotions”
as in the case of ITS/IPS cadre officers in Central Goverment
Service.
He is immortal in true sense. His memory will last long among
the working people of our country. Let us pledge to move forward to
strengthen the NFTE-BSNL which was built and protected by comrade
OPG for long. May be that is the fittest tribute to his devoted
and sincere service to all of us in Telecom Sector.
C.K.Mathivanan
Dy.General Secretary,
NFTE-BSNL