George Fernandes
George Mathew Fernandes (3 June 1930 – 29 January 2019) was an Indian trade unionist, statesman, and journalist, who served as the 22nd 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. He was a key member of the Janata Dal and the founder of the Samata Party. Holding several prominent ministerial portfolios during his career, including communication, industry, railways, and defence, he was posthumously awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award, in 2020.
George Fernandes | |
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George Fernandes in 2002 | |
| 22nd 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 |
| 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 for Bihar | |
| In office 4 August 2009 – 7 July 2010 | |
| Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha | |
| In office 2004–2009 | |
| 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 1996–2004 | |
| 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 3 June 1930 Mangalore, Madras Presidency, British India (present-day Mangaluru, Karnataka, India) |
| Died | 29 January 2019 (aged 88) New Delhi, India |
| Political party | Samata Party |
| Other political affiliations |
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| Spouse | Leila Kabir |
| Children | 1 son |
| Residence(s) | Bangalore, Karnataka, India |
| Awards | Padma Vibhushan (2020) (posthumously) |
| Signature | |
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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, 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. He died on 29 January 2019 at the age of 88.