Economy of protests: How can a hunger strike win in modern times?

Trains fell silent, goods rotted at sidings, coal did not reach the power stations, and a nation that ran on rails was halted. Indira Gandhi’s government did not bow but answered with brute force. There were mass arrests, thousands of dismissals, and families were forced out of their railway quarters with their belongings on the platform. The strike was crushed. In the short term, it had failed. But the cost was not forgotten. George Fernandes, the firebrand who led them, won a Lok Sabha seat in 1977. It was the year Indira Gandhi herself was swept from power. By 1979,…