George Fernandes trade unionist, Socialist Party bigwig, former Defence Minister, Railway Minister and one of India’s important politicians at one time, died after many years of suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
He had a very interesting and chequered life and career. He came from an upper middle class family of Mangalore but struck out on his own, having to live on the streets of Bombay after 4 years of Catholic seminary. At one time he held Bombay in his grip as head of the Taximen’s Union, the rickshaw drivers union and the city’s public transport union - the BEST. With a single call to his unions, he could shut down the city, its deserted streets resembling ghost-town. His 1974 railways strike in all of India gave Indira Gandhi the jitters and caused her to call in the emergency the next year. He was the brains and the motivator of the Konkan Railway from Goa to Mangalore. Known as the Giant Killer for his election defeat of S K Patil, nominally Agriculture Minister and the Congress’ leading light and financier through his contacts with the United States Govt. Patil was the man responsible for India avoiding starvation during several severe droughts, through PL 480 that supplied American grain on payment of Indian Rupees and was thus known as a Giant. This was before Kurien’s Green Revolution that provided the food security the country so badly needed. Fernandes had several siblings. He had one son with his ex wife Leila Kabir daughter of a former Union Minister and later state governor. In his golden years he was looked after by Jaya Jaitly who was a constant companion. It was a great pity that an unseeming personal battle dragged itself out in public over the care of Fernandes between Leila Kabir and his son Sean on one side and Jaya Jaitly, Lawrence Fernandes and the other siblings on the other, over George Fernandes’ personal care and not inconsiderable assets including Mangalore property and an opulent Bombay mansion none of which was gained through illegal means like most of today’s politicians. Wikipedia has a well-informed and detailed composite of the man whose power and influence at one time even exceeded that of the prime minister. Roland. Toronto.
