George Fernandes

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For the American soccer player, see George Fernandez.

George Fernandes
Mumbai South, Maharashtra
Personal details
Born
George Mathew Fernandes

(1930-06-03)3 June 1930
Mangaluru, Karnataka, India)
Died29 January 2019(2019-01-29) (aged 88)
New Delhi, India
Political partySamata Party[1][2]
Other political
affiliations
SpouseLeila Kabir
Children1 son
Residence(s)Bangalore, Karnataka, India
AwardsPadma Vibhushan (2020) (posthumously)
Signature
Source: [1]

George Mathew Fernandes

industry, railways, and defence,[8] he was posthumously awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award, in 2020.[9][10][11][12]

A native of

Bombay South constituency. As president of the All India Railwaymen's Federation, he led the 1974 railways strike. Fernandes went underground during the Emergency era of 1975, while challenging Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for imposing a state of emergency,[13] but in 1976 he was arrested and tried in the infamous Baroda dynamite case
.

In 1977, after the Emergency had been lifted, Fernandes won the

Konkan Railway project. As defence minister in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led second and third Atal Bihari Vajpayee ministries (1998–2004), he oversaw the outbreak of the Kargil War and the implementation of nuclear tests at Pokhran. Fernandes has been dogged by various controversies, including the Barak Missile scandal and the Tehelka 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]

Early life

George Fernandes was born on 3 June 1930 to John Joseph Fernandes and Alice Martha Fernandes (née Pinto), in

King George V (who was also born on 3 June), hence she named her first son George. His father was employed by the Peerless Finance group as an insurance executive, and headed their office of South 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 to St. Aloysius College, Mangalore, where he completed his Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC).[16]

In an interview with E TV, he 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 a Roman 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]

He began work at the age of 19, organising exploited workers in the road transport industry and in the hotels and restaurants in Mangalore.

Bombay
that included Taximen unions, textile mills and Mazdoor Unions.

Career

Brief history of participating in elections

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.

  • Bombay : 1967 (Lost in 1971)
  • Muzaffarpur : 1977, 1980, 1989, 1991, 2004. (Lost in 2009 as rebel)
  • Bangalore : Lost in 1984 [26]
  • Banka : Lost bye-polls in 1985 and 1986.
  • Nalanda : 1996, 1998, 1999
  • Rajya Sabha : 2009

Life in Bombay

After leaving the seminary, Fernandes moved to Bombay in 1949 in search of a job. He went to the office of

Rammanohar 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 newsletter The Dockman. When in August 1951,

Bombay 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 at

Bombay 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 the

Bombay South constituency by the Samyukta Socialist Party against the more wellknown S. K. Patil of the Indian 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]

1974 railway strike

The most notable strike organised by Fernandes, when he was President of the

Madras 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 to Amnesty 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 to Indira 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]

Emergency era and union ministry

Main articles: The Emergency (India) and Baroda dynamite case
George Fernandes arrested in the Baroda dynamite case

The reigning Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, declared a

Indian 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 in
Berhampur 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 the

Berhampur 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 in

Mukand Ltd., helped them find contacts for procuring dynamite, used extensively in quarries around Halol (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 in Varanasi. The conspiracy later came to be known as the infamous Baroda 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 from

ham radio.[46]

On 10 June 1976, he was finally arrested in

Calcutta 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 to Tihar Jail. The accused were never chargesheeted.[46]

Union Minister and Muzaffarpur MP post-1977

After the emergency subsided, elections were held in India from March 16 to March 20, 1977. The Congress Party, led by Indira Gandhi, suffered a defeat at the hands of the Janata 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 by Morarji Desai, who became the first non-Congress Prime Minister of India.[52] Fernandes won the Muzaffarpur 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.

Foreign 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 a Doordarshan Kendra (1978), Kanti Thermal Power Station (1978) and the Lijjat papad factory to generate employment in Muzaffarpur.[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 Morarji Desai to work for the organization of Janata Party but wasn't accepted.[67] On 12 July 1979, speaking on Motion of no confidence brought by Yashwantrao Chavan, George Fernandes defended Morarji Desai's government.[68][69] But on 15 July 1979, George along with other ministers like Biju Patnaik, Purushottam Kaushik, Bhanu Pratap Singh resigned from Morarji's cabinet.[70][71][72]

Party memberships and railway ministry

Fernandes (left) with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2000

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 erstwhile

Lal Krishna Advani, refused to give up their allegiance with the RSS, leading to a split within the Janata Party. The issue of "dual membership" caused Morarji Desai to lose the vote of confidence, and his government was reduced to a minority in the Lok Sabha.[73] 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.[74]

In the

Konkan Railway project, the first major development in the Rail transport in India#History since independence.[78]

Fernandes broke away from the erstwhile Janata Dal and formed the Samata Party in 1994,[79] which became a key ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).[80] BJP formed a short-lived government in the 1996 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.[81][82] Fernandes later served in the opposition along with BJP during the two United Front governments (1996–1998) led by Janata Dal ministers H. D. Deve Gowda and Inder Kumar Gujral.[82] After the collapse of the United Front ministry led by Gujral, BJP and its allies won a slender majority in the 1998 general elections. The government lasted only for 13 months, due to the non-co-operation of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader Jayalalitha.[83]

After the collapse of the second BJP-led coalition government, BJP and its allies formed a 24 party alliance called

National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which became the first non-Congress coalition government in post-independence India to survive a full five-year term (1999–2004).[84] Later, Fernandes became the convenor of NDA.[85] On 27 July 1999, the Janata Dal again split into two factions, the Janata Dal (United) and the Janata Dal (Secular).[86] In 2003, Fernandes reunited with the Janata Dal (United), and also merged his Samata Party with it.[79][87]

Defence minister

Main articles: Kargil War and Pokhran-II
Fernandes (left) with US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in 2002

Fernandes served as the

Operation Vijay to push back the Pakistani intruders and regain the occupied territories.[88] The inability of the Indian 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 the failure of intelligence agencies in detecting infiltration along Kargil sector.[89]

In May 1998, India conducted five nuclear tests at the

Siachen glacier in Kashmir, which holds the record of being "the world's highest battlefield".[8][95][96] He was known for overseeing a huge increase in India's defence budget as compared to the allocations made by previous governments.[8]

After the defence ministership

The NDA Government lost power to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in the 2004 general elections.[97] On 11 October 2004, George Fernandes along with Chandra Shekhar and Subramanian Swamy formed Rashtriya Swabhiman Manch to oppose Sonia Gandhi and policies adopted by UPA government.[98][99]

Later, political observers alleged that Fernandes was locked in a bitter party rivalry with his one-time friend, Samata Party co-founder, Nitish Kumar.[100] In the 2009 general elections, he contested from Muzaffarpur as an independent candidate after being denied a ticket by the Janata Dal (United) on health grounds,[101] but he lost the election.[102] 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) president Sharad Yadav.[103] 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.[104]

Controversies

Support to secessionist groups in Sri Lanka

Fernandes supported and endorsed many secessionist movements and groups. He was a long time supporter of the

Sri Lankan government stated that, "the LTTE's biggest supporter in India is Defence Minister George Fernandes."[105] He also expressed support for Tibetan refugees fighting for freedom against China, and Burmese pro-democratic rebel groups fighting against the military government in Myanmar.[106]

He revealed the infamous "

Operation Leech" incident, which resulted in the capture of Arakan Army insurgents on one of India's islands in the Andaman Sea. He also fought for the welfare and release of anti-Burmese rebels held by the Indian Government.[107]

CIA funding

Main article: Kissinger cables

During the Emergency, as chairman of the

French 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 the CIA".[108]

Tehelka scandal

Main article: Operation West End

Fernandes' name figured prominently in Operation West End, a sting operation in which journalist Mathew Samuel, armed with hidden cameras, from a controversial investigative journal, Tehelka, posing as representatives of a fictitious arms company, appeared to bribe the Bharatiya Janata Party President, Bangaru Laxman, a senior officer in the Indian Army and Jaya Jaitly, the General Secretary of the Samata Party and Fernandes' companion.[109]

The scandal caused uproar all over India and Fernandes was forced to resign from his post as a Defence Minister. He was subsequently cleared by the one man commission headed by retired Justice Phukan. The Phukan Committee Report was rejected by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government headed by the Congress 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.[110]

Barak Missile scandal

Main article: Barak Missile scandal

On 10 October 2006, the

National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government (1998–2004), who later became the President of India, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, had cleared the missile deal.[111]

As defence minister

Following the Pokhran nuclear tests in 1998, he openly branded China as "India's enemy number one".[112] He later expressed regret for his statements, saying it was wrongly interpreted by the media.[8][96] 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 the Himalayas in Tibet.[96]

Fernandes has claimed that he was

Richard Armitage, personally apologised to Fernandes over the matter.[115] This was one in a series of incidents involving the detention and search of Indian VIPs at US airports that marred Indian–US relations post 9/11.[116]

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.[117] However, the CBI gave a clean sheet to Fernandes in the scam in its 2009 charge sheet.[118]

Writings, journalism and other contributions

Fernandes liked writing and journalism in his student days. He was the editor of a

Kannada.[119] The Dockman weekly in English, which had ceased publication, reappeared under the editorship of Fernandes in 1952–53.[120] Though not a prolific writer, Fernandes wrote several books on politics including What Ails the Socialists (1972),[121] Socialist Communist Interaction in India,[122] In the year of the disabled: India's disabled government (1981),[123] Dignity for All: Essays in Socialism and Democracy (1991),[124] and his autobiography titled George Fernandes Speaks (1991).[125] He was the editor of an English monthly, The Other Side, and the chairman of the editorial board of the Hindi monthly Pratipaksh.[5] A human rights activist, Fernandes had been a member of Amnesty International, the People's Union for Civil Liberties and the Press Council of India.[126]
In the year 2022, a
Placid D’Mello.[129]

Family and personal life

Fernandes met Leila Kabir, the daughter of former Union minister

Red Cross. They began dating and were married on 22 July 1971.[130] They had a son, Sean Fernandes, who is an investment banker based in New York.[131] Fernandes and Kabir separated in the mid-1980s.[131] Jaya Jaitly was Fernandes' companion from 1984.[131]

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.[132]

Fernandes was reported to be suffering from

Baba Ramdev's ashram at Haridwar[133] for the diseases at the request of Leila Kabir, who had recently returned to his life.[134] 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.[135] In July 2010, the Delhi High Court ruled that Fernandes would stay with Kabir and that Fernandes' brothers would be able to visit.[136]

In August 2012 the Supreme 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 her locus standi.[137]

He died at the age of 88 on 29 January 2019, in Delhi following a

swine flu infection.[15][138][139] In his condolence letter, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet wrote, "I had the privilege of knowing him for over five decades during which we met regularly (...) I admired him greatly because he dedicated himself to what he believed in, no matter how difficult the situation was. Mr Fernandes was a great humanitarian and believer in truth. Throughout his life, he was a voice to millions of poor and needy people of the country. He had firm conviction for justice and wisdom. He was a real heroic leader. (...) He was a steady friend who was sympathetic to the Tibetan cause right from the beginning. He never missed an opportunity to speak up for the Tibetan people as well as for others in similar situation. (...) Although George and I are from different religious traditions, as a Buddhist I am confident he would be reborn yet again to serve his country, in particular, the cause of the less privileged people. (...) As I had told him during our meetings over the years, I will always remember him".[140]

See also

https://www.georgefernandes.org/

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Lok Sabha
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for
Mumbai South

1967–1971 		Succeeded by
Kailas Narain Narula Shivnarain
Preceded by
Nawal Kishore Sinha
 Member of Parliament
for
Muzaffarpur

1977–1984 		Succeeded by
Laliteshwar Prasad Shahi
Preceded by
Laliteshwar Prasad Shahi
 Member of Parliament
for
Muzaffarpur

1989–1996 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Vijay Kumar Yadav
 Member of Parliament
for
Nalanda

1996–2004 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for
Muzaffarpur

2004–2009 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by
Madhav Rao Scindia
 Minister of Railways
1989–1990 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of Defence
1998–2001 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of Defence
2001–2004 		Succeeded by
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