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www.GOALias.blogspot.comThe Crisis of Democratic Order 107agitations were seen as anti-Congress and rather than opposing theState governments, they were seen as protests against the leadershipof Indira Gandhi. She believed that the movement was motivated bypersonal opposition to her.Railway Strike of 1974What would happen when the railways stop running? Not for one ortwo days, but for more than a week? Of course, many people would beinconvenienced; but more than that, the economy of the country wouldcome to a halt because goods are transported from one part to anotherby trains.Do you know that such a thing actually happened in 1974? The NationalCoordination Committee for Railwaymen’s Struggle led by GeorgeFernandes gave a call for nationwide strike by all employees of the Railwaysfor pressing their demands related to bonus and service conditions. Thegovernment was opposed to these demands. So, the employees of India’slargest public sector undertaking went on a strike in May 1974. The strikeby the Railway employees added to the atmosphere of labour unrest. Italso raised issues like rights of the workers and whether employees ofessential services should adopt measures like strikes.The government declared the strike illegal. As the government refusedto concede the demands of the striking workers, arrested many of theirleaders and deployed the territorial army to protect railway tracks, thestrike had to be called off after twenty days without any settlement.Conflict with JudiciaryThis was also the period when the government and the ruling partyhad many differences with the judiciary. Do you remember thediscussion about the long drawn conflict between the Parliament andthe judiciary? You have studied this last year. Three constitutionalThe Supreme Court said it cannot. Secondly, can the Parliamentcurtail the right to property by making an amendment? Again, theCourt said that Parliament cannot amend the Constitution in sucha manner that rights are curtailed. Thirdly, the Parliament amendedthe Constitution saying that it can abridge Fundamental Rights forgiving effect to Directive Principles. But the Supreme Court rejectedthis provision also. This led to a crisis as far as the relations betweenthe government and the judiciary were concerned. You may rememberthat this crisis culminated in the famous Kesavananda Bharati Case. Inthis case, the Court gave a decision that there are some basic featuresof the Constitution and the Parliament cannot amend these features.Two developments further added to the tension between thejudiciary and the executive. Immediately after the Supreme Court’sPutsimply,committed judiciaryand committedbureaucracy means thatthe judges and officersshould be loyal to theruling party. What apity!