Assault on human dignity, says Rahul Gandhi on incident of bonded labour in U.P.

Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, reacted strongly to the allegation of forced labor in Muzaffarnagar, terming the incident as an attack on human dignity and added that the most vulnerable sections are victims of such exploitation as jobs disappear due to the collapsing economy.

“The bonded labor situation of workers in Muzaffarnagar is very shocking. Besides being forced to work without pay, workers were bitten by dogs, speared, whipped and fed cattle fodder. This is an attack on human dignity; the victims deserve justice and rehabilitation and the perpetrators deserve the harshest punishment,” Mr Gandhi wrote in X.

“It is also important for us to ask what strains force workers into such dangerous situations. Desperation grows as jobs disappear, incomes stagnate, and protections for the most vulnerable, such as MGNREGA and labor laws, weaken. Those with no other options or protection become easy prey for such exploitation. This is not a typical case of crime, but the wreckage of a collapsed economy.”

For more than a year, 13 workers worked at a factory in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh, lured by the promise of employment, fair wages and improved quality of life. But workers claimed they were kept within the walls of the factory, had their mobile phones and ID documents confiscated, were denied food, were subjected to severe physical abuse, and were constantly monitored by two pit bull dogs kept on the premises to deter any attempt to escape. In the raid carried out by joint teams from the Ministry of Labor, the police and the local government on June 22, an incident that the authorities described as bonded labor at the bag-making factory was revealed. The workers are from UP, West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand.

Uttar Pradesh Congress leader Ajay Kumar Lallu said the failed economic policies of the BJP government are responsible for such oppression on ordinary poor people. “These workers joined the factory to earn their livelihood, but the gradual collapse of the Indian economy, weak labor laws, positive policies of the government towards factory owners and lack of regulatory oversight are leading to such pressures. The Uttar Pradesh government talks big about investments from big industries and global capital, but no investment is coming, this is the structural failure of the BJP government,” said Mr. Lallu, former State Congress chief.