Ramdev Singh (8 October 1935 – 14 April 2022) was the first trade union leader (mazdoor neta) of Hindalco Industries Limited, Renukoot of Aditya Birla Group. He was popular among workers of Hindalco and other factories of Sonbhadra and Mirzapur. He led several strikes with thousands of workers against Hindalco management to reform laborers’ miserable conditions. He was quite famous among wagers between 1963–1977. Workers called him Neta ji and trusted him as their leader.
Early life
Singh left home to earn his livelihood at the age of 12. He couldn’t go to school.
Early history & trade union
Singh came to Gorakhpur in search of a job. At 18, he became a supervisor in a company. His salary was 70 rupees monthly. He was the sole breadwinner in his family, so this amount was not enough. He had to go to Shivpur coalfield of Jharia to earn more money. Ramdev Singh was a born leader and tactful in making relations. He used to get close with officers and influential people easily. He got in touch with a famous leader and activist Raj Narain ji who went on to become health minister in U. P. govt. Raj Narain ji was the only person who defeated Indira Gandhi in the general elections of 1977.
When Singh’s mother realised that he was working in dreadful conditions in the coal-field, she persuaded him to leave that job. He was close to his mother, so he resigned. Singh went to J.K. Nagar, where he learned about Hindalco. Many workers were shifting to Renukoot where Hindalco was opening their operations. It was 1962, when Singh too shifted to Renukoot and joined Hindalco as a wager. He was assigned to work in pot room where furnaces were emitting unbearable heat. All wagers had to work in miserable and dangerous conditions. They were treated like animals. They had to leave their food on plates, if officers called them. There were no proper rooms and facilities for wagers provided by factory management. 20-30 wagers had to live in tiny tin-shades. After observing this mismanagement, Ramdev Singh fumed at Hindalco officers. A few days after joining the factory, he went straight to talk to the foreman of his shift. The foreman asked him to do only what he ought to do. He didn’t back his stand. He then tried to talk to other senior staff. One officer threatened to expel him from the company. He told Singh to go and earn crores of rupees, then come to question the Birla group. Singh replied that if there are crores in Birla's treasury, it is because we are working hard to make him rich. This very sentence irked that officer. He talked to his superiors and issued a chargesheet to Ramdev Singh. Ramdev Babu lit his cigarette and burnt that paper into ashes before him just like films. Ramdev Babu was terminated that day without prior information.
Next day, when he went to the factory, he was stopped by security guards at the entry gate. Then workers learned that Ramdev Singh was stopped at the gate for questioning the management. They started gathering at the gate in support of him. Almost all workers of Hindalco sat at the gate demanding entry of Ramdev Singh into the factory. They started sloganeering, if you will not let him in, we’ll not work. That was the moment when workers got their voice in the name of Ramdev Babu. He became their leader on that day only. Management hurriedly let Singh come into the factory and work. But he became a target of the company management. After some months, Singh made the first trade union in Hindalco and built an office by raising wooden planks and putting tin shade over it. He named his trade union ‘Rashtriya Shramik Sangh’. He started fighting more vigorously with management for betterment of workers. And after some months, management terminated him without any reason. He came out of Hindalco but did not give up on his fight for workers; however he started meeting with leaders and influential people to get support in this movement. Hindalco management deployed a team to keep their eyes on him. Ramdev Singh used to change his locations to dodge them. They plotted arrests of many close associates of Ramdev Babu. Even Ramdev Babu went to jail several times. There are various testimonies in the media that some top officers of Hindalco hired assassins to get rid of him.
Strikes of 1963 and 1966
After constant talks and meetings with the Hindalco management over the interests of workers, Singh decided to go on strike. On the very night of 1963, at 11 pm, hundreds of workers gathered and started a strike. It lasted for three days. Hindalco management came with a settlement clause of no victimization.