Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday strongly disagreed with Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Chairman S N Subrahmanyan for advocating the idea of a 90-hour work week. 

Speaking at the inauguration of the Congress party’s new headquarters at 9A, Kotla Road, Kharge emphasised the importance of protecting workers’ rights and maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

“I would like to thank L&T construction...some dues are also left from our side. I would like to thank L&T construction, architects, labourers involved in the construction. While I thank the company, but the company’s CEO has made a remark of working 90 hours in a week. I don't agree with that,” the Congress chief said.

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Invoking the legacies of Jawaharlal Nehru and Dr B R Ambedkar to support his position, Kharge further said “A labourer works for eight hours and gets tired and that is why Nehru and Ambedkar had stated while making factory act that workers should not be made to do more than eight hours of work.”

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“After that someone said nine hours, but he (L&T chief) is now talking of 12 hours, 14 hours, he should leave that (view), but I thank the company because they have done a very good job. I would also like to thank the labourers for their hard work,” he further added.

Kharge’s remarks follow Subrahmanyan’s recent statements on working hours which had sparked widespread online outrage. In a video that went viral, Subrahmanyan urged employees to work more, even suggesting that they should forgo Sundays off and work upwards of 90 hours per week.

“How long can you stare at your wife? How long can the wives stare at their husbands? Come on, get to the office and start working,” he was heard saying in the video. 

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This ignited debate over the increasingly blurred lines between work and personal life in India’s corporate world. Subrahmanyam’s statement received more backlash when he expressed regret for not being able to make employees work on Sundays, declaring that he himself worked on Sundays. His comments, widely criticised on social media, reignited concerns over employee burnout and the erosion of work-life balance in corporate culture.

Subrahmanyam is not the first one to advocate long working hours. His remarks echo the opinions of prominent figuresin India’s corporate worl like Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthybet88, Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal, Shaadi.com founder and Shark Tank Judge Anupam Mittal and more.