'Blood tea' protest reaches Calcutta: Ajoy Edwards ups ante on minimum wage
Telegraph | 26 February 2026
The “blood tea” campaign reached Calcutta on Wednesday, with supporters of the Ajoy Edwards-led Indian Gorkha Janshakti Front (IGJF) drawing blood from their veins and splattering it on banners demanding that minimum wages be fixed for tea garden workers.
“We held a demonstration in front of the labour minister’s office in Calcutta. We had taken tea pots. We drew blood and sprinkled it on banners demanding fair wages for our tea workers,” said Edwards.
The “blood tea” campaign seems to be inspired by the Blood Diamond campaign worldwide. The label was given to diamonds mined in war zones and used for negative consequences like financing insurgency, civil wars, invading armies’ war efforts or a warlord’s activity, mostly in African countries.
This is not the first time that Edwards has used the “blood tea” campaign. He had started the campaign in 2022 when there was a dispute over the disbursal of the annual bonus for tea garden workers.
The demand for the minimum wage has been a long-standing one. The state government had formed an advisory committee in 2015 to fix the minimum wage for tea workers, but despite 20 meetings, a consensus hasn’t been reached.
The 30-member committee comprises officials, planters and representatives of trade unions.
The daily wage of the tea garden worker is ₹250, but Edwards maintained that there is a ₹30 statutory deduction, like provident fund (PF).
The daily tea wage was last hiked by ₹18 in 2023 to reach ₹250.
Edwards had earlier said that the protest was timed keeping in mind the upcoming Assembly election as the “government listens only during election time”.
“We will carry on with our agitation once we return to Darjeeling,” said Edwards over the phone from Calcutta.
The IGJF plans to continue holding torch rallies in different tea gardens.
“We will continue holding torch rallies. We might even go on a hunger strike on this issue in the days to come,” said Edwards.
Observers believe that the minimum wage might resonate among tea garden workers ahead of the Assembly elections.
Tea workers determine the electoral outcome of around 15 Assembly seats in north Bengal.