New Delhi: Over 300 prominent artists and intellectuals have signed a petition seeking fair treatment of industrial workers in Delhi NCR.The petition, started by actor and publisher Sudhanva Deshpande, notes that the signatories are “deeply disturbed” by the reports of police violence and illegal detention, and the vilification of workers.The signatories include musician and author T.M. Krishna, actors Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah, dancer Mallika Sarabhai, poet K. Satchidanandan, novelist Githa Hariharan, filmmaker Anand Patwardhan; theatre director M.K. Raina, and journalist Neha Dixit, among others. The petitioners endorsed workers’ right of protest against unbearable working and living conditions.“In the rapidly changing news cycle, where even trivialities become ‘breaking news’, the real issues of the people are forgotten and sidelined. This petition is an attempt to bring back the attention on the struggles of workers and the repression they have been facing,” said Deshpande.Over 40,000 workers have participated in the industrial actions taking place across manufacturing units in Noida and Gurugram, protesting low wages, rising living costs, and poor enforcement of labour protections. Authorities have responded with coercive action, including deploying tear gas and conducting large-scale detentions. Hundreds have been arrested and many legal cases have been filed in what several have highlighted are administrative excesses.The full text of the statement is below.In Solidarity with Workers in Delhi NCR In the past few weeks, there have been widespread protests by industrial workers in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and many parts of Delhi NCR around their legitimate demands regarding work conditions and wages. While discontent among workers has been simmering for a long time, the recent spike in inflation and shortage of cooking gas due to the US-Israel war on Iran has pushed matters to a head. It appears that the replacement of long-standing labour laws with the new Labour Codes has also led to a feeling of discontent among workers. Instead of dealing sympathetically with workers and their representatives, the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi have responded with severe repression. Numerous reports of police violence, illegal detentions, arrests without proper procedures being followed, and denial of basic facilities to those arrested including access to families and legal aid have appeared in the media and on social media. National leaders of political parties, members of parliament, trade union leaders and eminent citizens have been prevented from even visiting the sites of workers’ protests. The Right-wing propaganda machinery has sprung into action, vilifying the protestors as ‘urban Naxals’ and ‘anti-national’. We are deeply disturbed by these reports. To protest against unbearable working and living conditions is the right of any citizen of this country. This right is conferred by the Constitution of India and does not depend on the largesse of this or that political dispensation. Democracy is strengthened when citizens can air their grievances without fear, when they can protest peacefully without being subjected to violence, when their actions are not vilified and criminalized. While expressing our solidarity with the just demands and struggles of workers, we demand that the central government, and the state governments of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi: Engage with the workers sympathetically and not treat the protests as a ‘law and order’ issue. Immediately release all workers, their leaders, artists and intellectuals who have been arrested in connection with these protests. Set up a fair and binding mechanism via which workers and their representatives can negotiate with the authorities around their demands.