‘RSS-stamped’ labour policy: Jairam Ramesh attacks Modi govt

In a stinging critique of the Narendra Modi government, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Thursday, 30 October, accused the Centre of attempting to recast India’s labour policy in the ideological mould of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), following the release of the draft Shram Shakti Niti 2025.

The draft policy, offered up earlier in October for public consultation, has stirred controversy over a section that asserts the Manusmriti — an ancient Hindu text, which is criticised for its definition of the caste system and deep misogyny — as having “embedded the moral basis of labour governance within India’s civilisational fabric, centuries before the rise of modern labour law”.

Calling the reference “deeply regressive” and “antithetical to the spirit of India’s Constitution” (which looks towards equality and equity as well as secular principles), Ramesh said the invocation of the Manusmriti signals a troubling ideological drift.

“This return to the principles of the Manusmriti is in keeping with the RSS’ most cherished traditions,” he said, recalling that the organisation had “attacked the Constitution of India soon after it was adopted, precisely because it did not derive inspiration from the ideals and values of Manu.”

The Shram Shakti Niti 2025, a policy framework that seeks to “reimagine India’s labour governance ecosystem”, purports to align workplace ethics, employer–employee relations and industrial codes with what it calls “India’s ancient civilisational wisdom”. Critics, however, argue that the reference to the Manusmriti, long criticised for its regressive social hierarchies and discrimination, betrays a dangerous romanticisation of caste-based labour structures.

Ramesh’s statement framed the policy as not merely administrative, but ideological — a continuation of the RSS’s decades-long project to infuse governance with cultural nationalism.

“By invoking Manu, the government is seeking to sanctify inequality under the garb of tradition,” he said, warning that such attempts “mock the founding ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity that define the Indian Republic”.

Political observers agree with Ramesh that the timing of the policy’s release — ahead of the 2026 Union Budget and the Bihar assembly elections next month, followed by several more assembly polls — suggests an effort to position ‘civilisational labour ethics’ as a cornerstone of the government’s economic philosophy.

Labour rights groups and social reform advocates have also voiced concern, arguing that any policy derived from texts like the Manusmriti undermines decades of constitutional progress in ensuring dignity and equality for all workers.

The draft Shram Shakti Niti 2025 was open for public feedback till 27 October, but the debate over its ideological underpinnings has spilled well beyond consultation forms and bureaucratic corridors — reigniting old questions about India’s constitutional soul and the forces seeking to redefine it.