The Unfinished Revolution of September 19, 1968
-Bruhaspati Samal -
On 19th September 1968, India witnessed one of the most defining uprisings in the history of the working class. More than thirty lakh Central Government employees, cutting across railways, postal services, defence establishments, income tax offices, customs, accounts, and clerical departments, rose together in an unprecedented show of unity. They answered the clarion call of the Joint Council of Action (JCA), a coalition of the All India Railwaymen’s Federation (AIRF), All India Defence Employees Federation (AIDEF), and the Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers.
This was not a sudden eruption of anger but a long-prepared response born from neglect and rising frustration. The employees had been fighting for a need-based minimum wage since the 15th Indian Labour Conference of 1957, which introduced the humane formula suggested by Dr. Wallace Akroyd, ensuring food, clothing, shelter, education, and healthcare for every worker’s family. Yet, the Second Central Pay Commission dismissed this principle, ignoring the very basis of dignified living. By the mid-1960s, inflation had swallowed employees’ modest earnings, reducing many families to debt, poverty, and silent suffering. When the demand for full neutralisation of price rise through Dearness Allowance was raised, the government refused, triggering deep resentment across the nation’s vast government workforce.
The Joint Council of Action decided that the time for petitions was over. The time for collective defiance had come. On the morning of 19th September 1968, India awoke to an eerie silence in government offices. Railway platforms stood still, postal bags lay unsorted, and telegraph lines remained unmanned. For the first time since Independence, the machinery of governance stopped—not because of chaos, but because those who ran it chose to demand dignity over fear.
The government, under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, responded with unprecedented repression. Just days before the strike, the draconian Essential Services Maintenance Ordinance (ESMO) was invoked, stripping employees of their democratic right to protest. On the ground, the state unleashed police and paramilitary forces to crush the uprising. Peaceful picketers were beaten, government leaders were arrested, and striking employees faced brutal retaliation. Across the country, over 12,000 workers were jailed, more than 64,000 were served termination notices, and 40,000 were suspended. Hundreds were dismissed outright, often without inquiry or recourse.
Amidst this climate of fear, a single act of defiance stood out. The Kerala government, led by Comrade E. M. S. Namboodiripad, openly refused to impose ESMA or deploy forces against its striking employees. Despite Delhi’s threats to dismiss his government, EMS held firm, declaring that governance without justice was tyranny. This rare moral courage became an enduring symbol of leadership in solidarity with the working class.
The price of the rebellion was high. Across Pathankot, Bikaner, Guwahati, Delhi, and Upper Assam, seventeen striking employees laid down their lives. Some were killed in police firing, others were crushed by trains while picketing railway lines, and a few were beaten to death while defending their offices. Among the martyrs were Paresh Sanyal of Guwahati, Raman Achari, Kishan Gopal of Bikaner, Lakshman Singh, Raj Bahadur, Devi Raj, Gurdeep Singh, and Gama. These were ordinary workers who became extraordinary symbols of courage and sacrifice.
Even amidst the repression, the spirit of resistance refused to break. JCA leaders, many of whom were behind bars, called for renewed action. Hunger strikes began on 10th October 1968, and on 17th October, thousands gathered at the Prime Minister’s residence in a mass rally demanding justice. It was this relentless pressure that forced the government to yield on a crucial demand: when the Third Central Pay Commission was constituted in 1970, the formula for Dearness Allowance neutralisation based on the Consumer Price Index was explicitly included in its Terms of Reference. To this day, millions of government employees across India benefit from DA—a hard-won right secured through the sacrifices of 1968’s martyrs.
But the greatest dream of the movement remains unfulfilled. The demand for need-based minimum wages, the very spark that ignited the strike, has remained elusive even after fifty-seven long years. Inflation continues to rise, social security has eroded, and precarious contracts have replaced secure employment. The very protections won in 1968 now stand under threat, silently slipping away as generations grow detached from the power of collective struggle.
The significance of the 1968 strike was not lost in Parliament. In a Rajya Sabha debate on 14th May 1969, Vidya Charan Shukla, the then Minister of State for Home Affairs, disclosed that 512 employees discharged during the strike were reinstated, including 235 from Posts and Telegraphs, 187 from Railways, 61 from Defence, 16 from Rehabilitation, 10 from Audit, and 3 from Revenue and Insurance. But he also clarified that full amnesty was denied. Government press notes dated 18th October 1968 and 7th January 1969 laid out the partial relaxations, but many victimised employees never regained their posts or dignity. The state’s refusal to reconcile fully with its workforce remains a reminder of the power imbalance that persists even today.
This is not just history—it is heritage. The Dearness Allowance that cushions your paycheck, the leave you take without fear of penalty, the very concept of fair pay—these are not gifts from any government. They are scars carved into our system by those who refused to remain silent. To forget them is to dishonour them. To stay indifferent while rights are diluted today is to betray the seventeen who gave their lives in 1968.
The strike of 19th September 1968 was not only a protest—it was a promise. A promise that the working class will never surrender its dignity. A promise that unity can bend power. A promise that justice must never be postponed. On this 57th anniversary, we must remember not only the martyrs but also the courage they inspire.
If the generation of 1968 could rise against repression with nothing but solidarity, why should today’s generation—better connected, better informed, and more empowered—choose silence? Long Live the Martyrs of September 19, 1968. Long Live the Spirit of Resistance.
(The writer is the General Secretary, Confederation of Central Govt. Employees and Workers, Odisha State Coordination Committee, President, Forum of Civil Pensioners Association, Odisha State Committee and a Columnist. eMail: samalbruhaspati@gmail.com)
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