George Fernandes | |
|---|---|
.jpg) George Fernandes in 2002 | |
| Minister of Defence | |
| In office 21 October 2001 – 22 May 2004 | |
| Prime Minister | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
| Preceded by | Jaswant Singh |
| Succeeded by | Pranab Mukherjee |
| In office 19 March 1998 – 16 March 2001 | |
| Prime Minister | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
| Preceded by | Mulayam Singh Yadav |
| Succeeded by | Jaswant Singh |
| Union Minister of Railways | |
| In office 2 December 1989 – 10 November 1990 | |
| Prime Minister | V. P. Singh |
| Preceded by | Madhav Rao Scindia |
| Succeeded by | Janeshwar Mishra |
| Member of Parliament,Rajya Sabha forBihar | |
| In office 4 August 2009 – 7 July 2010 | |
| Member of Parliament,Lok Sabha | |
| In office 16 May 2004 — 16 May 2009 | |
| Preceded by | Jai Narain Prasad Nishad |
| Succeeded by | Jai Narain Prasad Nishad |
| In office 1989–1996 | |
| Preceded by | Laliteshwar Prasad Shahi |
| Succeeded by | Jai Narain Prasad Nishad |
| In office 1977–1984 | |
| Preceded by | Nawal Kishore Sinha |
| Succeeded by | Laliteshwar Prasad Shahi |
| Constituency | Muzaffarpur,Bihar |
| In office 10 May 1996 – 16 May 2004 | |
| Preceded by | Vijay Kumar Yadav |
| Succeeded by | Nitish Kumar |
| Constituency | Nalanda,Bihar |
| In office 1967–1971 | |
| Preceded by | Sadashiv Kanoji Patil |
| Succeeded by | Kailas Narain Narula Shivnarain |
| Constituency | Mumbai South,Maharashtra |
| Personal details | |
| Born | George Mathew Fernandes (1930-06-03)3 June 1930 |
| Died | 29 January 2019(2019-01-29) (aged 88) New Delhi, India |
| Political party |
|
| Other political affiliations | National Democratic Alliance |
| Spouse | Leila Kabir |
| Children | 1 son |
| Residence(s) | Bangalore, Karnataka, India |
| Awards | Padma Vibhushan (2020) (posthumously) |
| Signature |  |
| Source:[1] | |
George Mathew Fernandes[1] (3 June 1930 – 29 January 2019) was an Indian politician, trade unionist, statesman,[2] and journalist,[3] who served as theDefence Minister of India from 1998 until 2004. A veteran socialist, he was a member of theLok Sabha for over 30 years, starting from Bombay (present-day Mumbai) in 1967 till 2009 mostly representingconstituencies from Bihar.[4] He was the leader of theSamyukta Socialist Party and theSocialist Party, a key member of theJanata Party, theJanata Party (Secular) and theJanata Dal, and, finally, the founder of theSamata Party.[5][6][7] Holding several prominent ministerial portfolios during his career, includingcommunication,industry,railways, anddefence,[8] he was posthumously awarded thePadma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award, in 2020.[9][10][11][12]
A native ofMangalore, Fernandes was sent toBangalore in 1946 to be trained as apriest. In 1949, he moved toBombay, where he joined the socialist trade union movement. Becoming a trade union leader, Fernandes organised many strikes andbandhs in Bombay in the 1950s and 1960s while working with the Indian Railways. He defeated S K Patil of theIndian National Congress in the 1967 parliamentary elections from theBombay South constituency. As president of theAll India Railwaymen's Federation, he led the1974 railways strike. Fernandes went underground during theEmergency era of 1975, while challenging Prime MinisterIndira Gandhi for imposing a state of emergency,[13] but in 1976 he was arrested and tried in the infamousBaroda dynamite case.
In 1977, after the Emergency had been lifted, Fernandes won theMuzaffarpur seat in Bihar in absentia. Asindustries minister, he revoked the licences for multinationalsIBM andCoca-Cola to operate in India, due to investment violations. Asrailways minister from 1989 to 1990 he was the driving force behind theKonkan Railway project. Asdefence minister in theBharatiya Janata Party-ledsecond andthirdAtal Bihari Vajpayee ministries (1998–2004), he oversaw the outbreak of theKargil War and the implementation ofnuclear tests at Pokhran. Fernandes has been dogged by various controversies, including theBarak Missile scandal and theTehelka affair. George Fernandes won nine Lok Sabha elections from 1967 to 2004.[14] He died on 29 January 2019 at the age of 88.[15]
George Fernandes was born on 3 June 1930 to John Joseph Fernandes and Alice Martha Fernandes (née Pinto), inMangalore to aMangalorean Catholic family.[16] The eldest of six children, all sons, his siblings areLawrence,Michael, Paul, Aloysius, and Richard. His mother was a great admirer of KingGeorge V (who was also born on 3 June), hence she named her first son George. His father was employed by thePeerless Finance group as an insurance executive, and headed their office ofSouth India for several years. George was fondly called "Gerry" in close family circles. He attended his first few years of schooling at a government school near his house called "Board school", a municipal school and a church school.[17]
He studied from fifth grade at the school attached toSt. Aloysius College, Mangalore, where he completed hisSecondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC).[16]
In an interview withETV, Fernandes described his decision to stop studies after matriculation despite his father wishing him to study and become a lawyer.[17] His premise was that he did not want to become a lawyer and fight cases for his father who often evicted tenants from a patch of land that they owned on the outskirts of Mangalore. He was instead enrolled in a seminary for studies to become a priest.[17] He went to St Peter's Seminary in Bangalore at the age of 16, to be trained as aRoman Catholic priest, studying philosophy for two and a half years from 1946 to 1948.[18][19] At the age of 19, he left the seminary due to sheer frustration because he was appalled that the rectors ate better food and sat at higher tables than the seminarians.[20] He later confessed that, "I was disillusioned, because there was a lot of difference between precept and practice where the Church was concerned."[18]
Fernandes began work at the age of 19, organising exploited workers in the road transport industry and in the hotels and restaurants in Mangalore.[21][22] For some time, he worked as an insurance agent and also tried wholesale businesses of shaving blades.[23] His first guru was a Mangalorean activist and a freedom fighterAmmembala Balappa (1922–2014). Balappa identified and groomed a young Fernandes, who had taken refuge at places surroundingNehru Maidan in Mangalore city, after being thrown out of the house. Initially, with Balappa's mentorship Fernandes gathered hotel workers and other menial labourers in the city. He was associated withRam Manohar Lohia-ledPraja Socialist Party (PSP) in its Mangalore division. Fernandes and few other union workers led Mangalore's earliest labour strikes on behalf of the workers of Canara Public Conveyance (CPC)in 1949. The strike was cracked down as the police resorted tolathi charge. After the strike, Fernandes came in contact with renowned Bombay-basedTrade Union leaderPlacid D’Mello (1919–1958).[24] Fernandes later left to Bombay in 1950 and faced tremendous hardships. Here again, he became a prodigy of D'Mello, who was handling the arduous Dock unions. After D'Mello's death[25] in 1958, Fernandes succeeded in managing dock Unions and other major labour force unions in the city that included Taximen unions, textile mills and Mazdoor Unions.
He first contested Lok Sabha election in 1967 as a socialist, and defeated the Congress stalwart Sa Kaa Patil in Bombay in a famous upset, earning the sobriquet 'George the Giant-killer'. He contested from Muzaffarpur, Bihar in 1977 while still in jail as a Janata Party candidate, and won. He was made minister in the first non-Congress govt in India. In 1979, he resigned from :Janata Party, joined Charan Singh's breakaway Janata Party (S), and won again from Muzaffarpur in 1980. In 1984 he fought from Bangalore on Janata Party's ticket but lost to Jaffar Sharif of Congress. He lost a bye-poll from Banka in 1985 and again in 1986. In 1989 and 1991, he shifted back to Bihar and won both times from Muzaffarpur as Janata Dal candidate. In 1994, he left Janata Dal after differences with Lalu Yadav and formed Samata Party which allied with BJP. In 1996 and 1998 elections, he won from Nalanda as Samata Party candidate. Samata Party merged with Janata Dal (United) and he won again from Nalanda in 1999. In 2004 he won from Muzaffarpur. In 2009 he was denied ticket by his party, contested from Muzaffarpur as an independent and lost. Later he was elected to Rajya Sabha in 2009. In the 2010s he was afflicted for many years with Alzheimer's and died in January 2019.
After leaving the seminary, Fernandes moved to Bombay in 1949 in search of a job. He went to the office ofSocialist Party inBombay and metMadhu Dandavate to ask him for staying there for some time but was not welcomed.[27] His life was tough in Bombay, and he had to sleep on the streets, until he got a job as a proofreader forThe Times of India newspaper.[28][29] He relates to the beginning of his career by saying, "When I came to Bombay, I used to sleep on the benches of Chowpatty Sands. In the middle of the night policemen used to come and wake me up and ask me to move on."[30] He came into contact with veteran union leaderPlacid D’Mello, and the socialistRammanohar Lohia, who were the greatest influences on his life.[28][31] Later, he joined the socialist trade union movement.[20] He rose to prominence as a trade unionist and fought for the rights of labourers in small scale service industries such as hotels and restaurants. Emerging as a key figure in the Bombay labour movement in the early 1950s, Fernandes was a central figure in the unionisation of sections of Bombay labour in the 1950s.[32]
In 1951, Fernandes joined Bombay Dock Worker's Union and worked to revive the publication of a newsletterThe Dockman. When in August 1951,Placid D’Mello was arrested, he organised foot march of around two-hundred dock workers fromBombay toPoona to meet Chief MinisterMorarji Desai for the release of D’Mello.[33] As a labour organiser, he served many prison terms when his workforce engaged in fights with company goons.[34] He served as a member of theBombay Municipal Corporation from 1961 to 1968. He won in the civic election in 1961 and, until 1968, continuously raised the problems of the exploited workers in the representative body of the metropolis.[35]
On his first day atBombay Municipal Corporation, 10 April 1961, he requested that the proceedings to be conducted inMarathi instead ofEnglish language.[36] On 4 April 1963, George was arrested along with Sardar Parsbag Singh and Janardhan Upadhyay underDefence of India act because of their demand to change the taxi fair structure. He was jailed at Nasik Central Jail. On 9 August 1963,Madhu Limaye along with other trade union leaders organised a big rally inBombay for his release. On 13 December 1963, he was released from Nagpur Central Jail.[37][38]
The moment that thrust Fernandes into the limelight was his decision to contest the1967 general election. He was offered a party ticket for theBombay South constituency by theSamyukta Socialist Party against the more wellknownS. K. Patil of theIndian National Congress in Bombay. Patil was a seasoned politician, with two decades of experience. Nevertheless, Fernandes won by garnering 48.5 per cent of the votes, thus earning his nickname, "George the Giantkiller". The shocking defeat ended Patil's political career.[39]
Fernandes emerged as a key leader in the upsurge of strike actions in Bombay during the second half of the 1960s but, by the beginnings of the 1970s, the impetus of his leadership had largely disappeared.[32] In 1969, he was chosen General Secretary of the Samyukta Socialist Party, and in 1973 became the chairman of the Socialist Party.[35] After the 1970s, Fernandes failed to make major inroads in Bombay's growing private-sector industries.[32]
The most notable strike organised by Fernandes, when he was President of theAll India Railwaymen's Federation, was the All India Railway strike of 1974, where the entire nation was brought to a halt. The strike was the result of grievances by railway workers that had been built up over two decades before the strike. Though there were three Pay commissions between 1947 and 1974, none of them increased the standard of living of the workers.[40] In February 1974, the National Coordinating Committee for Railwaymen's Struggle (NCCRS) was formed to bring all the railway unions, the central trade unions and political parties in the Opposition together to prepare for the strike to start on 8 May 1974.[41] In Bombay, electricity and transport workers, as well as taxi drivers joined the protests. InGaya, Bihar, striking workers and their families squatted on the tracks.[41] More than 10,000 workers of theIntegral Coach Factory inMadras marched to the Southern Railway headquarters to express their solidarity with the striking workers. Similar protests erupted across the country.[41]
The strike, which started on 8 May 1974, at the time of economic crisis, provoked strong government reactions and massive arrests.[42] According toAmnesty International, 30,000 trade unionists were detained, most held under preventive detention laws. Those arrested included not only members of the strike action committee and trade unionists, but also railwaymen who participated in the strike.[43] The strike was called off unilaterally on 27 May 1974 by the Action Committee. As explained later by Fernandes, "the strike was called off because those conducting the strike had started speaking in different voices."[44] Although large number of prisoners were released, among them Fernandes, thousands remained in detention, charged with specific offences.[43] The strike led to a sense of insecurity and threat that led toIndira Gandhi's imposition of the Emergency era in 1975. Previous strikes were aimed at companies or industries, but this strike was aimed at the government and from its ramifications proved to be the most successful of disastrous industrial actions in Indian history.[42]
The reigning Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, declared astate of emergency on 25 June 1975 due to internal political disturbances. Accordingly, all fundamental rights enjoyed in theIndian Constitution were suspended. Political dissidents, newspaper reporters, opposition leaders who opposed the emergency were jailed. George Fernandes, along with like-minded leaders, opposed what he saw as a blatant misuse of power. A day before the emergency George Fernandes had arrived inBerhampur City in Odisha (on 24 June 1975) and was staying at his father-in-law Humayun Kabir's house onGopalpur-On-Sea beach nearBerhampur City, Odisha. Humayun Kabir was the education minister in former prime minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet.
George Fernandes' 25 June schedule in Berhampur city was packed. He attended a meeting of theBerhampur University Employees Association, a meeting with socialist leaders and workers and a gathering of intellectuals in the evening. He was scheduled to attend a meeting of theRailways Workers Association of Odisha on 26 June inBerhampur City but before that he hid himself there secretly.A warrant was issued in Fernandes' name and subsequently he went underground to escape arrest and prosecution. When the police failed to capture him, they arrested and tortured his brother,Lawrence Fernandes, to reveal his brother's whereabouts.Snehalata Reddy, a chronic asthmatic was arrested for being in touch with George Fernandes and, as she was not given adequate care in the prison, died soon after her release.[45]
In July 1975, Fernandes arrived inBaroda. There, he met Kirit Bhatt, who was president of Baroda Union of Journalists, and Vikram Rao, a staff correspondent ofThe Times of India at Baroda, both who opposed the Emergency. They used to meet and discuss on what could be done to topple the autocratic Indira Gandhi Government. An industrialist friend,Viren J. Shah, managing director ofMukand Ltd., helped them find contacts for procuring dynamite, used extensively in quarries aroundHalol (near Baroda). They aimed at blowing up toilets in government offices and cause explosions near the venue of public meetings to be addressed by Indira Gandhi. The idea was not to injure anybody, but only create a scare. The explosions were to be carried out either late in the night or hours before the public meeting was to begin to avoid injury. A plan was hatched to blow up a dais four hours before Indira Gandhi was to address a meeting inVaranasi. The conspiracy later came to be known as the infamousBaroda dynamite case.[46][47]
According to Bhatt, there were two more plans that never worked out. Fernandes also wanted to rob a train used to carry weapons fromPimpri (nearPoona) to Bombay. The weapons were to be used to blast government offices. Yet another plan was to take the help of other countries by usingham radio.[46]
On 10 June 1976, he was finally arrested inCalcutta on charges of smuggling dynamite to blow up government establishments in protest against the imposition of emergency, in what came to be known as the Baroda dynamite case.[48] After his arrest, Amnesty International members cabled the Government requesting that he be given immediate access to a lawyer and that his physical protection be guaranteed.[49] Three world leaders from Germany, Norway and Austria were believed to have cabled Indira Gandhi and cautioned her against harming Fernandes.[16] From Baroda, the accused were shifted toTihar Jail. The accused were never chargesheeted.[46]
After the emergency was lifted, elections were held in India from 16 to 20 March 1977. The Congress Party, led by Indira Gandhi, suffered a defeat at the hands of theJanata Party, a coalition created in 1977 out of several small parties that opposed Gandhi's Emergency era.[50][51] The Janata Party and its allies came to power, headed byMorarji Desai, who became the first non-CongressPrime Minister of India.[52] Fernandes won theMuzaffarpur seat in Bihar by an over 300,000 vote margin in 1977 from jail where he was lodged in the Baroda dynamite case,[53] despite his not even visiting the constituency.[31][54]
On 28 March 1977, he was appointed as Minister of Post and Telegraph.[55] In his speech, on 31 March 1977, inLok Sabha, he emphasised on expanding postal services to rural areas.[56][55] On 7 July 1977, he was appointed the Union Minister for Industries.[57][58][59] During his union ministership, he clashed with American multinationalsIBM andCoca-Cola insisting they implement FERA, theForeign Exchange Regulation Act, which had been passed under Indira Gandhi's government. Under the FERA, foreign investors could not own more than 40 per cent of the share capital in Indian enterprises. The two multinationals decided to shut down their Indian operations, when Fernandes pressed ahead with rigid enforcement of FERA.[60] On 1 May 1978, he launched District Industrial Centre to provide employment in rural areas.[61][62]
During his first tenure as MP, Fernandes set up aDoordarshan Kendra (1978),Kanti Thermal Power Station (1978) and theLijjat papad factory to generate employment inMuzaffarpur.[63][64] Fernandes also insisted on women's empowerment. In November 2014, Kanti Thermal Power Station was renamed as George Fernandes Thermal Power Station (GFTPS).[65][66]
In November 1978, he sent his resignation letter to Desai to work for the organization ofJanata Party, which was rejected.[67] On 12 July 1979, speaking onMotion of no confidence brought byYashwantrao Chavan, George Fernandes defendedMorarji Desai's government.[68][69] But on 15 July 1979, George along with other ministers likeBiju Patnaik,Purushottam Kaushik,Bhanu Pratap Singh resigned from Desai's cabinet.[70][71][69]
During his tenure as a minister in the Janata Party, he continued to be uncomfortable with certain elements of the broad-based Janata coalition, especially with the leaders of the erstwhileHindu nationalistBharatiya Jan Sangh in theUnion Cabinet. In a debate preceding avote of confidence two years into the government's tenure in 1979, he vehemently spoke out against the practice of permitting members to retain connections to theRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) while being in the ministry in the Janata Party. The leaders of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, among themAtal Bihari Vajpayee andLal Krishna Advani, refused to give up their allegiance with the RSS, leading to a split within the Janata Party. The issue of "dual membership" causedMorarji Desai to lose the vote of confidence, and his government was reduced to a minority in theLok Sabha.[72] After the Janata Party started disintegrating in 1979,Charan Singh left it to form the Janata (Secular) Party and with support from the Congress Party, replaced Desai as prime minister.[73]
In theseventh general elections held in 1980, the Janata (Secular) ministry failed to maintain a majority in theLok Sabha, and Congress once again became the ruling party.[73] Fernandes retained his Parliamentary seat from Muzaffarpur in 1980, and sat in the opposition.[74] He contested for theLok Sabha in 1984 fromBangalore North constituency against futureRailway minister and Congress candidateC. K. Jaffer Sheriff, but lost the election by a margin of 40,000 votes.[75] He then decided to shift his base to Bihar in 1989, when an anti-Congress wave was sweeping the country in the wake of theBofors scandal,[53] and won Muzaffarpur in the1989 and1991 general elections,[74] He later joined theJanata Dal, a party which was formed from the Janata Party atBangalore in August 1988.[76] His second tenure as Minister of Railways in theV. P. Singh's government from 1989 to 1990, though short-lived, was quite eventful.[4] He was one of the driving forces behind theKonkan Railway project, the first major development in theRail transport in India#History since independence.[77]
Fernandes broke away from the erstwhile Janata Dal and formed theSamata Party in 1994,[78] which became a key ally of theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP).[79] BJP formed a short-lived government in the1996 general elections along with the Samata Party and other allies. The government survived only for 13 days, since the BJP could not gather enough support from other parties to form a majority.[80][81] Fernandes later served in the opposition along with BJP during the twoUnited Front governments (1996–1998) led byJanata Dal ministersH. D. Deve Gowda andInder Kumar Gujral.[81] After the collapse of the United Front ministry led by Gujral, BJP and its allies won a slender majority in the1998 general elections. The government lasted only for 13 months, due to the non-co-operation ofAll India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leaderJayalalithaa.[82]
After the collapse of the second BJP-led coalition government, BJP and its allies formed a 24 party alliance calledNational Democratic Alliance (NDA), which became the first non-Congress coalition government in post-independence India to survive a full five-year term (1999–2004).[83] Later, Fernandes became the convenor of NDA.[84] On 27 July 1999, the Janata Dal again split into two factions, theJanata Dal (United) and theJanata Dal (Secular).[85] In 2003, Fernandes reunited with the Janata Dal (United), and also merged hisSamata Party with it.[78][86]
Fernandes served as theDefence Minister of India in both the first and secondNational Democratic Alliance governments (1998–2004). During his tenure as the defence minister, theKargil war overKashmir broke out between India and Pakistan in 1999. The war began when heavily armed Pakistan-backed intruders dug themselves in at heights of 16,000 feet (4,900 m) – 18,000 feet (5,500 m) on the Indian side of theLine of Control (LOC) along an 80 kilometres (50 mi) stretch north ofKargil. They began attacking thestrategic highway linkingSrinagar andLeh. As a result, theIndian army undertook theOperation Vijay to push back the Pakistani intruders and regain the occupied territories.[87] The inability of theIndian intelligence and military agencies to detect the infiltration early received criticism, both by the opposition as well as the media. However, Fernandes refused to acknowledge thefailure of intelligence agencies in detecting infiltration along Kargil sector.[88]
In May 1998, India conducted five nuclear tests at thePokharan range inRajasthan.[89] Earlier a staunch supporter ofnuclear disarmament, Fernandes openly endorsed the NDA government's decision to test the nuclear bombs.[90][91] He was also involved in skirmishes with the thenChief of Naval Staff of the Indian Navy,Vishnu Bhagwat, over promotion of Vice-Admiral Harinder Singh as Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff. Bhagwat was subsequently sacked over the issue.[92] After theTehelka defence scandal broke out in March 2001, Fernandes quit as defence minister, but was reappointed to the post later.[93] Fernandes is the only defence minister of a nuclear power who had a picture ofHiroshima bombing in his office. He made 18 visits to the icy heights of the 6,600 metres (4.1 mi)Siachen glacier in Kashmir, which holds the record of being "the world's highest battlefield".[8][94][95] He was known for overseeing a huge increase in India's defence budget as compared to the allocations made by previous governments.[8]
The NDA Government lost power to the Congress-ledUnited Progressive Alliance (UPA) in the2004 general elections.[96] On 11 October 2004, George Fernandes along withChandra Shekhar andSubramanian Swamy formedRashtriya Swabhiman Manch to opposeSonia Gandhi and policies adopted by the UPA government.[97][98]
Later, political observers alleged that Fernandes was locked in a bitter party rivalry with his one-time friend, Samata Party co-founder,Nitish Kumar.[99] In the2009 general elections, he contested from Muzaffarpur as an independent candidate after being denied a ticket by the Janata Dal (United) on health grounds,[100] but he lost the election.[101] On 30 July 2009, Fernandes filed his nomination as an independent candidate for the mid-term poll being held for the Rajya Sabha seat vacated by Janata Dal (United) presidentSharad Yadav.[102] The Janata Dal (United) did not field any candidate against him, which led to his being elected unopposed. He was sworn in on 4 August 2009.[103]
Fernandes supported and endorsed many secessionist movements and groups. He was a long time supporter of theLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), an organisation which sought to create an independent state in the north and east of Sri Lanka.[104] Before 1997, he organised a controversial public convention of pro-LTTE delegates in New Delhi.[104] In July 1998, he reportedly prevented theIndian Navy from intercepting ships that were suspected of carrying illegal weapons to Tamil guerrilla groups.[104] Fernandes was also a patron of the Fund Raising Committee backed by the LTTE, with an objective to help the 26 accused in theRajiv Gandhi assassination case.[104] TheSri Lankan government stated that, "the LTTE's biggest supporter in India is Defence Minister George Fernandes."[104] He also expressed support for Tibetan refugees fighting for freedom against China, and Burmese pro-democratic rebel groups fighting against the military government inMyanmar.[105]
He revealed the infamous "Operation Leech" incident, which resulted in the capture of Arakan Army insurgents in theAndaman and Nicobar Islands. He also fought for the welfare and release of anti-Burmese rebels held by the Indian Government.[106]
During the Emergency, as chairman of theSocialist Party of India, he faced prosecution for alleged conspiracy against the government of Prime MinisterIndira Gandhi.[107] He allegedly sought to obtain funding from the USCentral Intelligence Agency and theFrench government to organise underground sabotage activities. US diplomatic cables said that after an initial request to seek funding from the French government was turned down, he was "prepared to accept money from theCIA".[107]
Fernandes' name figured prominently inOperation West End, asting operation in which journalistMathew Samuel, armed with hidden cameras, from a controversial investigative journal,Tehelka, posing as representatives of a fictitious arms company, appeared to bribe theBharatiya Janata Party President,Bangaru Laxman, a senior officer in theIndian Army andJaya Jaitly, the General Secretary of theSamata Party and Fernandes' companion.[108]
The scandal caused uproar all over India and Fernandes was forced to resign from his post as Defence Minister. He was subsequently cleared by the one man commission headed by retired Justice Phukan. The Phukan Committee Report was rejected by theUnited Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government headed by theCongress Party and a new committee headed by Justice K Venkataswami was appointed. The Committee investigated the case in detail, but Justice Venkataswami resigned before submitting the report in the case.[109]
On 10 October 2006, theCentral Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered aFirst information report (FIR) against Fernandes, his associate Jaya Jaitly, and former navy chiefAdmiral Sushil Kumar for alleged irregularities in purchasing the₹7 billion (US$83 million)Barak 1 system from Israel in 2000.[110] Fernandes, however, said that the scientific adviser to the Defence Minister inNational Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government (1998–2004), who later became thepresident of India,A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, had cleared the missile deal.[110]
Following the Pokhran nuclear tests in 1998, he openly branded China as "India's enemy number one".[111] He later expressed regret for his statements, saying it was wrongly interpreted by the media.[8][95] He has also criticised China for providing sophisticated weapons to Pakistan to build its missiles, and has rapped the Chinese for strengthening their military across theHimalayas in Tibet.[95]
Fernandes has claimed that he wasstrip searched twice atDulles Airport in the US Capital area, when he was defence minister—once on an official visit toWashington in early 2002 and another time while en route to Brazil in mid-2003. The details of the strip-search were mentioned in American foreign policy analystStrobe Talbott's bookEngaging India – Diplomacy, Democracy and the Bomb.[112] However, theUS embassy inDelhi issued a formal denial that Fernandes had been strip-searched,[113] and said that, "Fernandes was not strip-searched but asecurity wand was waved over him when a key in his pocket set off the metal detector."[114] Subsequently, the thenUnited States Deputy Secretary of State,Richard Armitage, personally apologised to Fernandes over the matter.[114] This was one in a series of incidents involving thedetention and search of Indian VIPs at US airports that marred Indian–US relations post 9/11.[115]
He was accused in the 2002 coffin scam, following allegations that 500 poor quality aluminium caskets were bought from the United States at rates 13 times more than the actual price, to transport the bodies of slain soldiers, after the Kargil War.[116] However, the CBI gave a clean sheet to Fernandes in the scam in its 2009 charge sheet.[117]
Fernandes liked writing and journalism in his student days. He was the editor of aKonkani language monthlyKonkani Yuvak (Konkani Youth) in 1949. The same year, he was the editor of theRaithavani weekly inKannada.[118] TheDockman weekly in English, which had ceased publication, reappeared under the editorship of Fernandes in 1952–53.[119] Though not a prolific writer, Fernandes wrote several books on politics includingWhat Ails the Socialists (1972),[120]Socialist Communist Interaction in India,[121]In the year of the disabled: India's disabled government (1981),[122]Dignity for All: Essays in Socialism and Democracy (1991),[123] and his autobiography titledGeorge Fernandes Speaks (1991).[124] He was the editor of an English monthly,The Other Side, and the chairman of the editorial board of theHindi monthlyPratipaksh.[3] A human rights activist, Fernandes had been a member ofAmnesty International, thePeople's Union for Civil Liberties and thePress Council of India.[125]In the year 2022, a Canada-based Mangalorean origin writerChris Emmanuel Dsouza[126] published a book titledBandh Samrat – Tales of eternal rebel[127] that chronicled George Fernandes's early days ofTrade union activism in his hometown ofMangalore, his early slog in his adopted city ofBombay and his association with stellarsocialist figures of Mangalore like the notedAmmembala Balappa andPlacid D’Mello.[128]
Fernandes met Leila Kabir, the daughter of former Union ministerHumayun Kabir, on a flight back toDelhi fromCalcutta. Fernandes, then the general secretary of theSamyukta Socialist Party, was returning from Bangladesh while Kabir was on her way back from the battlefront where she had gone as an assistant director of theRed Cross. They began dating and were married on 22 July 1971.[129] They had a son, Sean Fernandes, who is an investment banker based in New York.[130] Fernandes and Kabir separated in the mid-1980s.[130]Jaya Jaitly was Fernandes' companion from 1984.[130]
Fernandes spoke ten languages—Konkani, English, Hindi,Tulu,Kannada,Marathi,Tamil, Urdu,Malayalam, and Latin. Konkani was his mother tongue. He learnt Marathi and Urdu in jail, and Latin while he was in the seminary in his early youth. He was fluent in Hindi and English.[131]
Fernandes was reported to be suffering fromAlzheimer's andParkinson's diseases, and in January 2010 was undergoing treatment atBaba Ramdev'sashram atHaridwar[132] for the diseases at the request of Leila Kabir, who had recently returned to his life.[133] In February 2010, Fernandes' brothers were reported to have been considering a court order for medical treatment and visitation; Kabir and Sean Fernandes are alleged to have forcibly removed Fernandes to an undisclosed location.[134] In July 2010, the Delhi High Court ruled that Fernandes would stay with Kabir and that Fernandes' brothers would be able to visit.[135]
In August 2012 theSupreme Court of India granted permission to Jaya Jaitly, a former aide, to visit him, a move which was opposed by his wife on the grounds of herlocus standi.[136]
He died at the age of 88 on 29 January 2019, in Delhi following aswine flu infection.[15][137][138]
As if it had not earned enough bad name and publicity for one of the most veteran politicians and trade unionist George Fernandes, claimants to his legacy slug it out in streets on Wednesday.
Former Defence Minister George Fernandes passed away on Tuesday in New Delhi, according to family members. He was 88. Mr. Fernandes had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. The family is awaiting his son Sean Fernandes' arrival from the United States to proceed with funeral arrangements. The funeral is scheduled to be held in New Delhi. 'We are saddened to announce the passing of Shri George Fernandes early this morning. Mr. Fernandes was attended to at his home by a Max Healthcare team, which found him unresponsive and declared him dead at 06:42AM on January 29th, 2019,' Max Healthcare hospital said in a statement.
In his salad days, he served many prison terms as a labour organiser when his workforce squabbled with hired company thugs.
The outstanding win for the Congress (I) came in the Bangalore North constituency where the Union minister, Jaffer Sharief, defeated the Janata Party general secretary, George Fernandes, by a margin of 40,000 votes.
In 1994, Fernandes and Nitish Kumar broke away, floated the Samata Party.
The bjp's key ally, Samata Party, is in a total disarray in Bihar as of now.
George Fernandes, who contested the Muzaffarpur Lok Sabha seat as an Independent candidate, lost the election as well as his security deposit marking an end to his 32-year-long political association with Muzaffarpur.
He contested the 1977 election from jail and won the Muzaffarpur constituency in Bihar by a landslide. George Fernandes became a hero of the Emergency. He was made minister when the Janata Party came to power in 1977 with Morarji Desai as Prime Minister. One of his prominent acts at the time was to force the exit of Coca Cola and IBM, which had refused to dilute their stake in their Indian associates. Coke left India and returned only two decades later. As Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Defence Minister, Mr Fernandes oversaw the Pokhran nuclear tests of 1998 and the Kargil war.
George Fernandes was suffering from Alzheimer's disease, which had forced him out of the public eye for last many years, and had recently contracted swine flu, she said, adding that he died at his home in Delhi. George Fernandes was one of the most prominent leaders of the socialist movement in the 1970s.
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forMumbai South 1967–1971 | Succeeded by Kailas Narain Narula Shivnarain |
| Preceded by Nawal Kishore Sinha | Member of Parliament forMuzaffarpur 1977–1984 | Succeeded by Laliteshwar Prasad Shahi |
| Preceded by Laliteshwar Prasad Shahi | Member of Parliament forMuzaffarpur 1989–1996 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Vijay Kumar Yadav | Member of Parliament forNalanda 1996–2004 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forMuzaffarpur 2004–2009 | Succeeded by |
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| Preceded by | Minister of Railways 1989–1990 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Defence 1998–2001 | Succeeded by |
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