Agitating ASHAs offer Attukal Pongala to highlight their demand for minimum subsistence wages

Asha workers are protesting outside the Kerala secretariat preparing for Pongala at the protest site in Thiruvananthapuram.
| Photo Credit: Nirmal Harindran

Scores of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), on the 32nd day of their indefinite strike for a minimum income needed for subsistence, sought to use the iconic Attukal Pongala festival on Thursday (March 13, 2025) as a high-profile political platform to spotlight their woes.

The women, sleeping rough on the pedestrian pathway in front of the government secretariat since last month, set up open hearths on the road in front of their agitation venue to cook the traditional Pongala offering to the Attukal Devi Temple deity as an act of defiance and a token of protest against the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s alleged apathy to their cause.

S Mini, State vice president of the Kerala Asha Health Workers Association (KAHWA), told The Hindu that the ASHAs were at their wits’ end.  “We did not anticipate the strike to last so long without an end in sight”. 

Asha workers who are protesting outside the Kerala secretariat preparing for Pongala at the protest site in Thiruvananthapuram.
| Photo Credit:
Nirmal Harindran

Seemingly exasperated, the ASHAs have announced a government secretariat siege on March 18. Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have expressed solidarity with the strike. ASHAs owing allegiance to the CITU have distanced themselves from the strike. 

The ASHA’s agitation venue has seen a lot of political theatre over the past weeks; for one, Suresh Gop, MP, arrived in the pouring rain to offer ASHAs umbrellas after the police dismantled their temporary shelter. Mr Gopi also published a document stating that the Centre had paid the National Health Mission (NHM) allocation for ASHAs and accused the LDF government of diverting the funds.

Top political leaders, including Leader of the Opposition V D Satheesan, Congress Working Committee member Shashi Tharoor, MP, and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president K Surendran were among those who arrived at the agitation venue to express their solidarity with the striking ASHAs.

Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) ‘s [CPI(M)] mouthpiece in Kerala, Deshabhimani, cautioned ASHAs against being scapegoated by anti-left forces, chiefly the BJP.

In an editorial on Pongala Day on Thursday, the newspaper accused the BJP government at the Centre of withholding its National Health Mission (NHM)  allocation for Kerala, estimated at ₹636.88 crores. The editorial stated that the Centre pays ASHAs a meagre ₹2000 a month and does not recognise them as workers. In contrast, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government has provided them with ₹7000 monthly.

The newspaper urged the Centre to categorise ASHAs as workers eligible for minimum wages, noting that they work more than eight hours daily and contribute significantly to society.