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EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, MAY 8: When he first brought the Indian Railways to a standstill in the '60s and '70s, George Fernandes was perceived a national security risk. Decades later, now donning the mantle of the country's Defence Minister, Fernandes cut an ironical picture in Mumbai on Saturday as he made a flying visit to commemorate the silver jubilee of the historic 1974 railway strike.Presiding over the anniversary celebration at a mid-town auditorium packed with union colleagues and railwaymen, Fernandes recalled his past - in all its colour and contradictions. Only the contradictions had to be read between his lines. He labelled the 1974 strike "a defining moment in the history of the labour movement in India" but stated that its advantages and gains were washed away by the waves of liberalisation. The maverick leader blamed the current lackadaisical attitude of union leaders of opposing the liberalisation for the decline of the labour movement.
Then, he quickly changed tracks to draw parallels between the railwaysand the defence. These are the two main forces which can shake the roots of the country, he said. "But the railways are directly involved with the common man, so I have always believed that the railwayman always enjoyed a slight advantage over the Armyman," he stated. Fernandes then recalled how he had learned an important lesson in political life - that stopping the railways meant a national security risk.
"It was in the '60s when during the first few agitations. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru made a comment during his radio address to the nation that the strike was posing a threat to national security since Army jawans were perishing on Siachen Glacier and other places for want of food and ammunition," Fernandes recalled. That comment won over many strikers, he added. Few days from now, Fernandes is scheduled to visit the Siachen - as the Defence Minister.
Fernandes also told the gathering how, in the '60s, he had gathered courage to jump on the railway track along with the late socialist leader MadhuLimaye in a fervent bid to stop trains from plying. Newspapers carried photographs of a nation at a standstill the next day. It earned him the much-needed publicity, he said, but his comment later at a Rotaryprogramme put him in the much-watched list of the Intelligence Bureau. "From my experience, I said that the person who controls the railways was powerful enough to control the nation. This made the IB send officers in the guise of research students to check on me," he said.
But if the 200-odd men in the auditorium had come to get a glimpse of the the old socialists who breathed fire and brimstone at communalists, they were sorely disappointed. Expectedly so. Fernandes waxed eloquent on the virtues of the RSS-affiliate union Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh. "Even in 1974, the BMS was impressive because of its disciplined force, one of the main reasons is it is the largest union in the country today," Fernandes said making clear his political preferences of the day.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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