George Fernandes

George Fernandes
MP
Constituency	Muzaffarpur
Personal details
Born	(1930-06-03) 3 June 1930 Mangalore
Nationality	Indian
Political party	Janata Dal (United)
Spouse	Leila Kabir
Children	1 son
Residence	Bangalore
Signature	File:George fernandes sign.JPG
As of September 26, 2006 Source: Biographical Sketch of Current Lok Sabha members

George Fernandes (born June 3, 1930) is a trade unionist, agriculturist, political activist, journalist and currently a member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India. He represents the Muzaffarpur constituency of Bihar and is a member of the Janata Dal (United) party. Fernandes was a defence minister in the National Democratic Alliance Government (1998-2004).

Early life

George Fernandes was born in 1930, in the coastal town of Mangalore. After his schooling in Mangalore, his father sent him to seminary near Bangalore, to train as a priest. The rigours of priesthood did not suit him, however, and he rebelled against the authorities of the seminary.

Life in Mumbai

George Fernandes had to endure innumerable hardships during his stay in Mumbai. It is said that he retained his simplicity owing to the hardships he faced there. Even today, he dresses modestly in a simple kurta-pyjama and leads a simple life. Nevertheless, he soon rose to prominence as a trade unionist and fought pitched battles against hotel owners, mill owners for the rights of labourers. Although this made him extremely popular among the working classes, he had to face the wrath of hotel and mill owners.

The pivotal moment that thrust Fernandes into limelight was his decision to stand for the 1967 general elections. He was offered a party ticket by the Samyukta Socialist Party against the political heavyweight Sadashiv Kanoji Patil in Mumbai. Sadashiv Kanoji Patil, or S.K.Patil as he was popularly known, was a seasoned politician, with two decades of experience behind him. Everyone expected S.K.Patil to romp home with absolute majority against George Fernandes. But to the utter surprise of political pundits, Fernandes convincingly won against S.K.Patil by garnering 48.5% of the votes polled in the election. Incidentally, the shock defeat ended S.K.Patil's political career.

The Emergency Era

The reigning Prime Minister of India, Smt. Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency on 25th June 1975. Accordingly, all fundamental rights enjoined in the Indian Constitution were suspended. Political dissidents, newspaper reporters, opposition leaders who opposed emergency were jailed. George Fernandes, along with like-minded leaders, opposed this blatant misuse of power. 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. Lawrence could not reveal George's location since he was unaware of his brother's movements. In June 1976 he was finally arrested on charges of smuggling dynamite to blow up government establishments in protest against the imposition of emergency, in what came to be known as Baroda Dynamite conspiracy case.

After the emergency was lifted, general elections were held in India. The Congress Party, led by Smt. Indira Gandhi suffered a defeat at the hands of the Janata Party coalition. The Janata Party and its allies came to power, headed by Sri. Morarji Desai. George Fernandes was appointed as the Union Minister for Industries.

He continued to be uncomfortable with certain elements of the broad-based Janata coalition, especially some former Congress Party members, like Jagjivan Ram, but especially with the leaders of the erstwhile Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Jan Sangh in the Union Cabinet, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani. In a debate preceding a vote of confidence two years into the government's tenure, he spoke out against the practice of permitting Vajpayee and Advani to retain connections to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh while being in the ministry; the issue of "dual membership" caused Morarji Desai to lose the vote of confidence, and Charan Singh formed a government, supported from outside by the Congress Party.

After the dissolution of the unstable Charan Singh ministry, he contested for the Lok Sabha in 1980 from Bangalore North against future Railway minister CK Jaffer Sharief and lost the election. He then decided to shift his base to Bihar, which was already the haunt of his political guru, Ram Manohar Lohia and friend Madhu Limaye.

Ministerial Tenures

First Tenure

George Fernandes first ministerial tenure was marred by controversies and allegations. He clashed with multinationals like IBM and Coca Cola and ordered them to leave Indian shores, implementing FERA, the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, which had been passed under Indira Gandhi's government.

Second Tenure

George Fernandes' second tenure as Minister of Railways in the V.P. Singh's government, though shortlived, was quite eventful. He was the driving force behind the Konkan Railway project, connecting coastal Karnataka with Mumbai, the first major development to Indian Railways since independence in 1947. The Konkan Railway reduced travel time between Udupi, Mangalore and Mumbai and facilitated easy movement of goods and services. Konkan Railway, hailed as a technological marvel, has contributed to the economic growth in coastal Karnataka.

Third Tenure

George Fernandes broke away from the erstwhile Janata Dal and formed the Samata Party in 1994.

In spite of being a committed socialist, who had previously always opposed the Sangh Parivar - so much so that he had been willing to end Morarji Desai's government on the question of Atal Behari Vajpayee and LK Advani's "dual membership" of the Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh - his party became a key ally of the BJP. BJP formed a short lived government after 1996 General Elections along with Shivsena with outside support from Samata Party, Shiromani Akali Dal(Badal) and Haryana Vikas Party of Late Bansilal. The goverment survived only 13 days. Then Fernandes served in the opposition along with BJP during the two United Front govts led by H D Deve Gowda and Inder Kumar Gujral. After the collapse of the UF ministry led by Gujral, BJP and its allies won a slender majority in the 1998 elections. The alliance, consisting of 24-parties, won a slender majority in the 1998 election. The government lasted only for 13 few months, due to the non-cooperation of AIADMK leader Ms. Jayalalitha. Whenever there was a difference of opinion between Jayalalitha and the NDA, George had to visit Poes Garden (Jayalalitha's Residence), to iron out the differences. This earned him the reputation of "Peace-Broker" and "Troubleshooter" of the NDA. After the collapse of the 2nd BJP led coalition govt, BJP and its allies formed a 24 party alliance called National Democratic Alliance. Jaswant Singh was the 1st convenor of NDA , then the responsibility was given to George Fernandes. Once again George Fernandes became the troubleshooter for Vajpayee. In the mean time, Gorge also merged his party into Janata Dal (United), a party consisting one group of the earstwhile Janata Dal. The National Democratic Alliance won a comfortable majority in the 1999 General Elections and formed the third govt led by Atal Behari Vajpayee. George Fernandes served as the Defence Minister in both the 2nd and the 3rd Vajpayee ministries.

It was during his 1st tenure as the Defence Minister when the Kargil war over Kashmir broke out between India and Pakistan. During Winter, it is common for Indian & Pakistani Armies to vacate the icy-posts of Kashmir. But the Pakistani Forces, occupied the hills in the Kargil sector. As a result, the Indian army undertook to push back the Pakistani forces and regain the occupied territories.

India took a controversial decision of not crossing the Actual LOC (Line Of Control) and , Fernandes' role and the inability of the Indian intelligence and military agencies to detect the infiltration early came in for criticism, both by the opposition as well as the media. Fernandes has refused to acknowledge the failure of intelligence agencies in detecting infiltration along Kargil sector.

The K Subramanyam Commission, which appointed to probe into the Kargil War, backed Mr Fernandes's Claim.

Relationship with the Armed Forces

George Fernandes always shared an excellent rapport with the armed forces. He became the first Defence Minister in Independent India to visit the unforgiving, treacherous, icy heights of the 6,600m Siachen glacier, which holds the record of being "the world's highest battlefield" in Jammu and Kashmir. He subsequently visited the glacier 17 more times and took necessay steps to lessen the burden on soldiers patrolling the glaciers.

He was dragged into the infamous coffin scam and his reputation as Mr. Clean took a beating. He was also involved in skirmishes with the Navy Chief Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat over promotion of Harinder Singh, in the Indian Navy. Bhagwat was subsequently sacked over the issue.

Controversies

Controversies have dogged George Fernandes ever since he entered politics. During emergency he was implicated in the infamous Baroda Dynamite Case. As a Minister for Industries in the Janata coalition government, he ordered IBM and Coca Cola to "pack their bags" and exit the Indian economy.

His tenure as a Defence Minister was a controversial one. Earlier a staunch supporter of nuclear disarmament, George Fernandes did a volte-face and openly endorsed the NDA Government's decision to test nuclear and hydrogen bombs in Pokharan, Rajasthan. He openly branded China as India's enemy No. 1 and criticised Chinese policy of providing sophisticated weapons to Pakistan. He also has rapped the Chinese for strengthening their military across the Himalayas in Tibet and also consistently supported the cause of Tibetan people against Chinese occupation.

George Fernandes also claimed that he was strip-searched twice at Dulles airport when he was defence minister -- once on an official visit to Washington in early 2002 and another time while en route to Brazil in mid 2003. The details of the strip-search were mentioned in senior US diplomat Strobe Talbott's book. However the US embassy denied that George Fernandes was strip-searched in US airports; subsequently the senior US state department official, Richard Armitage, personally apologised to Fernandes over the incident.

Support to Secessionist Groups

George Fernandes has openly supported and endorsed secessionist movements and groups, irrespective of whether he was a Union Minister or a member of the Opposition. Notable among the secessionist groups supported by him include The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (now designated as a terrorist group), the Tibetan refugees fighting for freedom against China and Burmese rebels group, fighting against the military government in Myanmar.

Support of Burmese separatist groups

Mr. Fernandes is a very active supporter of many Burmese anti-government movements. Quoted regularly on exiled Burmese radio stations, he often criticizes the junta and its members on a wide array of topics. He opposes the current government's drive to root out anti-Burmese insurgents along the Burmese-Indian border. During his tenures in office, gun runners were allowed to do business using Indian territories, often as stop overs en route from Thailand to Bangladesh.

He also 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 fights for the welfare and also release of anti-Burmese rebels held by the Indian Government. Once, when the National United Party of Arakan complained to Mr. Fernandes of its members being captured in Indian waters, while carrying arms, he issued orders restricting Indian military movements, and all counter-terror / counter-insurgency operations conducted in the region to be asked for approval from the Central Government.

He also claims that the several islands in the Andaman Sea, including the Coco Islands, which belong to Myanmar, were gifted by the former Prime Minister of India Nehru to the Burmese, rather than part of the original territory gained at Independence.

Tehelka Scandal

George Fernandes' name figured prominently in Operation West End, a sting operation in which a group of reporters, armed with hidden cameras, from an 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 Jaitley, the General Secretary of the Samata Party and Fernandes' companion.

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 UPA Government headed by the Congress Party and a new committee headed by Justice K Venkataswami was appointed. The Committee, after lengthy investigation, also absolved Fernandes in the case.

Barak Anti-Missile Scam

Main article: Barak Missile Deal Scandal

On October 10, 2006, the CBI registered a first information report against Fernandes, his associate Jaya Jaitley, and former navy chief Admiral Sushil Kumar for alleged irregularities in purchasing the Barak missile system from Israel in 2000.

George Fernandes, however, claimed that the scientific adviser to the Defence Minister in NDA Government, who later became the President of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam had cleared the missile deal [1].

Books Written

Though not a prolific writer, George Fernandes has penned couple of books on politics including books like "What Ails the Socialists", "Railway Strike of 1974" and his autobiography titled "George Fernandes." He is also the editor of an English monthly, "The Other side" and the Chairman on the editorial board of a Hindi monthly "Pratipaksh."

Current Scenario

The NDA Government lost power to the Congress-led UPA in 2004. His detractors allege that Fernandes is locked in a bitter party rivalry with his one-time friend, Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar over the leadership of the Samata Party.

External links

• Profile of George Fernandes
• Biography and pictures
• Article on 1967 election
• TimeAsia article
• Complete coverage of the Tehelka scandal
• Home Page on the Parliament of India's Website