Finance Minister Arun Jaitley accused that the two-day nationwide strike called by central trade unions was 'manufactured' by Left political organisations.

The Left-affiliated trade unions of "manufacturing a protest on non-existent issues", Jaitley on Wednesday said, asking if they had any real issues or was the "bandh" (strike) a part of the strategy of the Left political organisations to organise a symbolic unrest to ensure that they were not wiped out from the political map of the country.

He said the strength of the Left parties had been significantly eroded in West Bengal and Tripura and that in the recent past, the political environment in Kerala was also building against them.

His remarks come in the backdrop of the 48-hour nationwide strike called by different trade unions on Tuesday-Wednesday in protest against alleged anti-labour policies of the Central government.

Jaitley said in less than five years that it had been in power, the NDA government had taken more measures for the welfare of workers than any other government. He said the Left-leaning trade unions were politicising the trade union movement to "manufacture a protest on non-existent issues".

"No government in the past has taken, within such a short period, so many continuous pro-worker decisions in order to ensure that the advantage of a better quality of life is ensured to them as a result of the economic development of the country," the Finance Minister said in a Facebook post.

"...The government has desisted from taking any decision which hurts the interest of the employees... It is for the workmen in the country to seriously analyse what the present government has done for them and compare it with the relatively blank record of several earlier governments," he said.

The two-day nationwide strike called by central trade unions on Tuesday in protest against what they describe as the anti-worker policies and unilateral labour reforms evoked a mixed response on its second day on Wednesday, as witnessed on the previous day.

The 10 unions which have given the strike call include the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) Hind Mazdoor Sabha, All India United Trade Union Centre- AIUTUC) Trade Union Coordination Centre (TUCC) and Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA).

The BJP-backed Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) did not take part in the strike.