The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) has called for a nationwide general strike on February 12, 2026. This protest aims to oppose the new Labour Codes and the central government's attacks on worker rights. The call came after the five-day 18th CITU All India Conference ended on January 4 in Visakhapatnam. Thousands of workers and leaders joined a strong rally from the Ambedkar Statue near the LIC office to the Indira Priyadarshini Municipal Stadium. The event ended with a public meeting. At the conference's close, CITU elected new leaders: Sudeep Dutta as national president and A. Karim as general secretary. Five members from Telugu-speaking states also joined the national body, including Ch. Narasinga Rao and G. Babi Rani from Andhra Pradesh, and A.V. Nageswara Rao, M. Saibabu, and Chukka Ramulu from Telangana. Mr. Dutta told the crowd, "Workers in every sector, right from agriculture to factories, are the people who are running the society, the nation and producing the wealth of the country." He added, "The ruling class has brought the four Labour Codes to exploit workers and take away what we achieved with 100 years of struggle." He warned, "We won’t allow them to take an inch of our rights." He promised that workers from all states and languages will join the strike, block roads and railways, and stop production to show the power of the working class. Mr. Narasinga Rao highlighted CITU's recent efforts, saying, "Our agitation made private companies who came forward to take over the VSP go back." He added that they also stopped the privatisation of Hindustan Shipyard Limited. He criticized the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) for not fulfilling its promise to raise wages after coming to power. The strike is set to be the largest general protest by trade unions in recent times.