Over 88,000 BSNL employees will be fired: BJP MP Anant Kumar

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Anant Kumar Hedge stirred controversy as he called the employees of state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) “traitors”. He accused the BSNL employees of not working hard enough to save the troubled telecom PSU and warned that 88,000 workers will be fired when it is privatized. 

“BSNL has a system filled with traitors. I am using accurate words to describe them,” said the BJP legislator while speaking virtually at an event held Monday at Kumta in Uttara Kannada district. He accused the BSNL employees of being lazy and incompetent and blamed them for the state telecom carrier’s misfortune.

“The government has given money, people require services and there is infrastructure. Yet, they (BSNL employees) don’t work. PM talks of Digital India, has provided funds and technology. Yet, they are not willing to work,” Hedge reportedly said adding that the only solution left with the government to fix the PSU is to privatize it and fire 88,000 employees.

“More than 88000 employees will be fired, as govt will privatize BSNL,” he added.