George Fernandes

George Fernandes has been one of the most iconic political leaders in India. A Catholic from Mangalore, who represented Muzaffarpur in Bihar 4 times, an anti nuke activist who presided over Pokhran 2, a pacifist who went on to become one of the best Defense Ministers ever.

He was born in Mangalore, to an insurance executive, and sent for training as a Roman Catholic priest when he was just 16. Frustrated with what he saw as double standards and hypocrisy in the Church, he left the seminary.

"I was disillusioned, because there was a lot of difference between precept and practice where the Church was concerned"

He was a rebel right from his teen years, and it was a trait that continued for a long time. At 19 itself George Fernandes began to organize workers in the road transport, as well as hotels in Mangalore. Moving to Bombay in 1949, he led a hard life, sleeping on pavements, till he got a job with a newspaper as proofreader. Inspired by Ram Manohar Lohia and the veteran union leader Placid D'Mello, he joined the socialist trade union movement.During the 50s and 60s, he made a name for himself in Mumbai's trade unions, served prison terms fighting on behalf of workers.

He shot into limelight during the 1967 General elections when he contested against veteran Congressman S.K.Patil. S.K.Patil was one of the major political leaders at that time, fighting on a SSP ticket, Fernandes humbled him. His defeat of Patil from Bombay South in 1967, earned him the reputation of being a giant killer. In fact Patil never recovered from the shock defeat at the hands of George Fernandes and his career went into oblivion.

Another act that would make George Fernandes more famous was the 1974 Railway strike against the pay and working conditions. The Railway strike led by him on May 8, 1974 paralyzed the Indian Railways, it remains the only major strike there to date.In fact it is said, that the Railway Strike of 1974, was one of the factors that prompted Indira Gandhi to declare Emergency.

This iconic image is of George Fernandes being arrested in Kolkata during the Emergency for Baroda Dynamite Case.

During the Emergency, Fernandes was one of those who went underground, had an arrest warrant in his name.The Baroda Dynamite case was hatched between Fernandes, Kirit Bhatt, President of Baroda Journalists Union and Vikram Rao, a TOI staffer. The dynamite was supplied by Viren Shah, MD of Mukand Ltd, who happened to be a friend of Fernandes.The plan basically was to blow up the dais, at Varanasi, 4 hours before Indira Gandhi was to address a meeting there.

Fernandes was however arrested on June 10, 1976 at Kolkata, and shifted to Tihar, he however was not charge sheeted. In the 1977 elections,Fernandes won from Muzzafarpur Lok Sabha, by a huge margin of 3 lakh votes. Fernandes was not from Bihar, nor had he been to Muzaffarpur earlier. He worked as Industries Minister in Janata Govt, more remembered for his clash with Coke and IBM over FERA violations.

Though the Janata Govt fell, and Indira returned back to power in 1980, Fernandes managed to retain his seat in Muzaffarpur. Though he lost from Bangalore South in 1984, Fernandes again won twice from Muzaffarpur in 1989 and 1991. He was Minister of Railways in V.P.Singh's Govt, and one of the driving forces behind the Konkan Railway. Konkan Railway Corporation was set up in July 1990, when he was Rail Min, and Sreedharan as it's first CMD.

When BJP was still an untouchable party, it was George Fernandes who took the lead in allying with it, through his Samata Party. He allied with the BJP in 1996 at a time when barring Akalis and Shiv Sena, no political party was willing to touch it. The irony is that in the Janata Govt, Fernandes was the most vocal opponent of RSS, he later became one of BJP's most trusted allies. He served as Defense Minister in the NDA Govt, from 1998-2004, his tenure saw both Pokhran-II and Kargil.

As Defense Minister, George Fernandes made 18 visits to Siachen, also ensured defense would have a higher allocation in budget. For some one who earlier supported nuclear disarmament, he openly supported Pokhran-II, gave it all the backing needed. as the one who first called out China as India's main enemy, was then ridiculed for it. But later events proved him true. Many in the Army, still regard George Fernandes highly, rate him as one of the best Defense Ministers. He was pretty much a hands on Minister, travelling to units, talking to the jawans. His 18 trips to Siachen itself is a testimony of that. As Defense Minister, Fernandes had a running battle with the Babus. There was this incident, when Babus were delaying the purchase of ice scooters for Siachen. He sent 3 of them to Siachen, to understand the conditions first hand.

And yes, one more man who dumped George Fernandes, was none other than his own protege, Nitish Babu. He mentored Nitish, in politics, yet when the chance came, the latter just dumped him, long time opportunist.

Apart from his political activities, Fernandes was also an equally good writer, edited Konkani Yuvak, Dockman, Raithavani(Kannada). He was also a polyglot, fluent in 10 languages- Konkani, Tulu, Kannada,English, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam.

All said and done, George Fernandes was a man who was always true to his word, a maverick, a rebel. And a man of integrity, notwithstanding those sham hit jobs of Tehelka on him. Sadly his last years, were not too good. Politically marginalized, reputation unfairly tarnished, and suffering from Alzheimer’s , he lived a secluded life. But for us, who grew up in the 90s, George Fernandes would be one of the most iconic leaders, a true nationalist, a fearless rebel who spoke his mind.