George Fernandes

George Fernandes
George Fernandes in 2002
Minister of Defence
In office
21 October 2001 – 22 May 2004
Prime MinisterAtal Bihari Vajpayee
Preceded byJaswant Singh
Succeeded byPranab Mukherjee
In office
19 March 1998 – 16 March 2001
Prime MinisterAtal Bihari Vajpayee
Preceded byMulayam Singh Yadav
Succeeded byJaswant Singh
Union Minister of Railways
In office
2 December 1989 – 10 November 1990
Prime MinisterV. P. Singh
Preceded byMadhav Rao Scindia
Succeeded byJaneshwar Mishra
Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha for Bihar
In office
4 August 2009 – 7 July 2010
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
In office
16 May 2004 — 16 May 2009
Preceded byJai Narain Prasad Nishad
Succeeded byJai Narain Prasad Nishad
In office
1989–1996
Preceded byLaliteshwar Prasad Shahi
Succeeded byJai Narain Prasad Nishad
In office
1977–1984
Preceded byNawal Kishore Sinha
Succeeded byLaliteshwar Prasad Shahi
ConstituencyMuzaffarpur, Bihar
In office
10 May 1996 – 16 May 2004
Preceded byVijay Kumar Yadav
Succeeded byNitish Kumar
ConstituencyNalanda, Bihar
In office
1967–1971
Preceded bySadashiv Kanoji Patil
Succeeded byKailas Narain Narula Shivnarain
ConstituencyMumbai South, Maharashtra
Personal details
Born
George Mathew Fernandes

(1930-06-03)3 June 1930
Mangalore, Madras Presidency, British India
(present-day Mangaluru, Karnataka, India)
Died29 January 2019(2019-01-29) (aged 88)
New Delhi, India
Political party
  • Praja Socialist Party (before 1967)
  • Samyukta Socialist Party (1967–73)
  • Socialist Party (1973–77)
  • Janata Party (1977-79)
  • Janata Party (S) (1979–80)
  • Janata Party (1980–88)
  • Janata Dal (1988–94)
  • Samata Party (1994–2003)
  • Janata Dal (U) (2003–19)
Other political
affiliations		National Democratic Alliance
SpouseLeila Kabir
Children1 son
Residence(s)Bangalore, Karnataka, India
AwardsPadma 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 the Defence Minister of India from 1998 until 2004. A veteran socialist, he was a member of the Lok Sabha for over 30 years, starting from Bombay (present-day Mumbai) in 1967 till 2009 mostly representing constituencies from Bihar.[4] He was the leader of the Samyukta Socialist Party and the Socialist Party, a key member of the Janata Party, the Janata Party (Secular) and the Janata Dal, and, finally, the founder of the Samata Party.[5][6][7] Holding several prominent ministerial portfolios during his career, including communication, 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 Mangalore, Fernandes was sent to Bangalore in 1946 to be trained as a priest. In 1949, he moved to Bombay, where he joined the socialist trade union movement. Becoming a trade union leader, Fernandes organised many strikes and bandhs in Bombay in the 1950s and 1960s while working with the Indian Railways. He defeated S K Patil of the Indian National Congress in the 1967 parliamentary elections from the 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 Muzaffarpur seat in Bihar in absentia. As industries minister, he revoked the licences for multinationals IBM and Coca-Cola to operate in India, due to investment violations. As railways minister from 1989 to 1990 he was the driving force behind 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]

  1. ^ Reddy 1977, p. 144 "(i) Accused George Mathew Fernandes (hereinafter referred to as George Fernandes) was the former Chairman of the Socialist Party of India and also the President of the All India Railway- men's Federation."
  2. ^ Sharma, Surender (1 July 2010). "By George! It's out on the street". MiD DAY. Archived from the original on 16 September 2012. Retrieved 3 September 2010. 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.
  3. ^ "Biographical Sketch (Member of Parliament: 13th Lok Sabha)". Parliament of India. Archived from the original on 12 August 2010. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
  4. ^ "Shri George Fernandes General Information". Government of Bihar. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 3 September 2010.
  5. ^ "Flaming torch a free symbol, EC can allot it to any other party: Delhi HC dismisses Samata Party's appeal". The Indian Express. 19 November 2022. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  6. ^ "SAMATA PARTY – Official Website". Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  7. ^ Gupta, Smita (24 October 2013). "Now a Samata Manch to build anti-Congress platform". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 26 December 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  8. ^ "Fernandes: Popular but controversial minister". BBC. 15 March 2001. Archived from the original on 11 February 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2010.
  9. ^ "George Fernandes, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj conferred Padma awards". business-standard.com. Press Trust of India. 9 November 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  10. ^ "Padma awards for George, Vashishtha & six others from state". The Times of India. 26 January 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  11. ^ "Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, George Fernandes given Padma Vibhushan posthumously. Here's full list of Padma award recipients". The Economic Times. 26 January 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  12. ^ "MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS" (PDF). padmaawards.gov.in. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  13. ^ "Why despite several controversial moves, George Fernandes continues to inspire us". dailyo.in.
  14. ^ "The loneliness of George Fernandes". The Hindu. 21 April 2009.
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference TheHindu2019_jan was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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