'Capitalists Exploit Employees For Profit': Akhilesh Yadav Runs Socialist Script In 'Work Pressure' Deaths, Rahul Gandhi Jumps In

Two cases of loss of life due to alleged excessive work pressure and toxic work culture have come to light recently.

While the discourse at large is rightly focused on identifying the cause of the problem and arriving at possible solutions, some political parties may be seeing an opening to push their ideologies further.

For instance, the call for "immediate reforms" by Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Akhilesh Yadav following the death of a female officer at Lucknow's Gomti Nagar branch of HDFC Bank raises eyebrows.

This is because he labels this unfortunate incident as a "symbol of pressures of the current economy" and alleges that the companies are using a lesser number of people for more work resulting in more work pressure.

While Yadav does not reveal what kind of reforms he is talking about, it can be inferred from his post that he might be hinting at a law that defines how many workers a company should employ for how much output.

This is not an impossible idea for him as he believes in socialism which advocates for government control over all economic enterprises and aims to eliminate private properties and enterprises.

While the exact cause of death of the HDFC employee Sadaf Fatima has not been revealed yet, her colleagues allege that she was under "work stress". Similarly, the death of an EY employee recently has been attributed to work pressure.

Yadav raised the EY employee's issue also based on the same socialist script as he said, "Capitalists exploit their employees and tremendously increase their profits".

The mention of profits is another red flag in Yadav's statement because socialists often support the idea of limiting profits by claiming that profits are not the driver of economic growth.

It must be clear that Swarajya does not deny that the two deaths might have been because of excessive work pressure and a toxic culture. We also stand in solidarity with the victims.

Earlier, in another post, referring to the death of the EY employee, Yadav had urged the government to bring positive economic policies and to look at the output instead of the working hours.

Yadav's ally Rahul Gandhi, a Member of Parliament (MP) of Congress from Rae Bareli and the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, who often remains silent on many issues, also raised the EY employee issue.

He talked to the parents of the victim and assured them of his support. He blamed "toxic and unforgiving work conditions" for the death of Anna Sebastian, "a bright and ambitious young professional".

Gandhi also assured that he would "ensure that this tragedy becomes a catalyst for change". Here again, what kind of changes was not specified but he asserted that there should be "safer and fairer workplaces for all".

However, the remarks of another Congress MP Shashi Tharoor indicate that the party might be planning to propose a law that limits working hours for private employees.

"If a company needs 16-hour days and nights from its employees all the time, it needs to hire more people, not abuse the rights of those it recruits and exploits," he posted on X.

He said that new laws and regulations are needed to "reform the toxic work culture of bottom-line-obsessed under-staffed establishments and better training for mid-level managers".

He also promised to "raise the issue of legislating, through Parliament, a fixed calendar for all workplaces, whether in the private sector or the public, that would not exceed eight hours a day, five days a week".

"Inhumanity at the workplace must be legislated out of existence with stringent punishment and fines for offenders. Human rights do not stop at the workplace!" he added.