Extreme left wing elements incited violence at Manesar plant: Maruti Chairman RC Bhargava

NEW DELHI: The violence at Maruti Suzuki's Manesar plant on July 18 in which one senior executive was killed, was the handiwork of "extreme left wing elements", the company's Chairman R C Bhargava has said.

Appearing in a panel discussion on TV Channel Headlines Today, he also described the violence as a "class attack".

"It were these left-wing extreme elements who incited the violence at Maruti. It was a conspiracy which was kept within a small group of people," a statement from TV Today Network, which owns Headlines Today, said quoting Bhargava.

Terming the incident as "pre-planned conspiracy", he said: "It was conceived by a small group of people. These could be extreme left wing elements who want society to change through virtual chaos creation".

Sources had earlier indicated that the Centre was keen on a probe to find out if the violence in the Maruti plant in Manesar has any Maoist link, though no Naxal link was found prima facie.

Bhargava further said it appeared to be much more than ordinary labour unrest or trade union activity.

"A certain demand by one worker does not lead to arms and legs of a manager being broken," he said, adding the attack was not directed at any one individual.

"It was like a class attack. It was like we are workers, we will attack anybody who is not a worker," he added.

Bhargava also admitted that the company may have made mistakes in its recruitment process while doing the background checks of workers.

"We cannot rule out that the wrong kind of people got hired," he said, while ruling out resuming production till "we can ensure safety of managers, supervisors, and even of some workers. They remain at risk".