Congress plans to bring INTUC back into Haryana mainstream politics

Congress plans to bring INTUC back into Haryana mainstream politics

Rao Narender Singh, Sanjay Dutt to meet INTUC office-bearers in Gurugram on Saturday, first such meeting in decades

In a first-of-its-kind move, the Congress is set to bring the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), its labour wing, back into the party’s mainstream politics across the state.

Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee president Rao Narender Singh and AICC in-charge for Haryana Sanjay Dutt will meet INTUC office-bearers in Gurugram on Saturday, the first such meeting in decades.

The outreach targets Haryana’s industrial workforce, a section the Congress has rarely placed at the centre of its politics. The party alleges that workers in factories across the state are being harassed and denied their rights under the BJP government, and wants to give them a political voice.

Haryana is among the country’s top five states in registered manufacturing employment. Together with Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, it accounts for about 56 per cent of the 2.10 crore people employed in the sector, according to the Annual Survey of Industries 2024-25.

Speaking to The Tribune, Dutt said the Congress was working to become more class-inclusive. “The party cannot be restricted to one section or one community. Everyone, from the grassroots level up, has to be part of its priority list.”

He said bringing INTUC closer to the party would strengthen the Congress and widen its base among one of the largest voter groups in the state. “Working with INTUC will improve our base and give industrial workers a voice that is being suppressed under BJP rule,” he added.

The Congress has long had INTUC as its trade union wing, but the two have largely worked in separate lanes. INTUC has focused on workers’ issues, while the party’s campaigns have centred on other sections. The meeting is seen as an attempt to close that gap and bring labour into the party’s grassroots plans across Haryana.

The move comes as the Congress reworks its organisation in the state under Dutt, who took charge as AICC in-charge in June. The party has been stressing a bottom-up approach, with greater focus on district units and local issues. Industrial workers in Gurugram, Faridabad and other industrial pockets are among the groups it now wants to reach.

The Congress says workers have borne the brunt of job insecurity, wage concerns and weak enforcement of labour rights.

With the Congress eyeing a return to power in Haryana, party leaders see the labour vote as one that can make a difference in urban and industrial constituencies. Saturday’s meeting is expected to set out how INTUC and the party will work together on workers’ issues in the coming months.