George Fernandes, the first politician from Karnataka to make it big on national stage

Leaving a mark: George Fernandes THE HINDU ARCHIVES

George Fernandes, who hailed from Mangaluru, was perhaps the first politician from the State to make it big on the national political landscape.

Though many leaders from the State held the charge of key Union Ministries before him, what set him apart from them was the mass appeal he enjoyed even outside the State. From the then Bombay to Bihar, he grew as a tall leader with mass appeal who could deliver electoral victories for his party in those turfs — a career that doesn’t seem to have any parallels in the State. “He was perhaps the only leader from the State to emerge as a national political icon for the railway strike and his underground resistance to the Emergency of the 1970s,” said his brother and politician Michael Fernandes.

Mr. George Fernandes also nursed ambitions to become the Prime Minister, says social activist Nandana Reddy, daughter of Snehalata Reddy who was closely associated with the late leader from 1954.

“He was an incredible trade union leader. Look at the way he led a three-week-long railway workers’ strike, which brought the country to a grinding halt. He had a flair for dramatics and was aware of its role to build and sustain a social movement,” she said. Recounting an anecdote, she said: “He used to say ‘1, Safdarjung Road’, where the Prime Minister then stayed was just a few steps away.”

Born on June 3, 1930 in Mangalore, George Fernandes began his political career as a trade union leader while working with the Indian Railways. His first big election victory came in 1967 when he won a parliamentary seat from the South Mumbai constituency.

In 1975, he opposed Indira Gandhi's Emergency and was arrested in the Baroda dynamite case, in which he and others were charged with smuggling dynamite to blow up government establishments and railway tracks.

Following the Emergency, Fernandes fought the 1977 Lok Sabha elections. He was made Minister for Communications, with the Janata Party

He also served as Union Minister for Industries. Here he is seen receiving Dr. Gerhard Weiss, Co-Chairman of the Indo-GDR Joint Commission for Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation, in New Delhi in 1977

In this picture, Fernandes is seen at the Janata Party's National Executive meeting in Bangalore on April 28, 1987, with former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar (centre) and Yashwant Sinha.

Fernandes later joined the Janata Dal and served under Prime Minister V.P. Singh (far right) as Minister of Railways from 1989-1990. Fernandes played a pivotal role in the Konkan Railway Project.

In 1994, Fernandes co-founded the Samta Party. Here he is releasing the party manifesto with Devi Lal (above) in April 1996.

Fernandes served twice as Defence Minister under the NDA governments during 1998-2004.

During his term as Defence Minister, India conducted the nuclear test at Pokhran, Rajasthan. Here, the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and APJ Abdul Kalam celebrate the mission in May 1998.

As Defence Minister, in 2003, he took a ride on the Russian made Sukhoi-30 fighter jet.

Fernandes was elected as an MP from Muzaffarpur three times in his career. Above, he files his nomination as a JD(U) candidate in 2004.

He was present at the 'Save Democracy' convention organised by the Karnataka unit of the BJP to mark the 30th anniversary of the Emergency, in Bangalore on June 26, 2005. The then Bharatiya Janata Party president L.K. Advani and M. Venkaiah Naidu were also present.

As NDA Convenor, Fernandes took part in a protest march against the non-inclusion of Dalit Christians and Muslims in Scheduled Casts list in New Delhi on March 14, 2008.

The same month, he was also present, with Jaya Jaitly during a demonstration against Chinese aggression in Tibet, in New Delhi.

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However, it never came to be. She said that though he was a key follower of socialist Ram Manohar Lohia, he did not have a firm ideological stand needed to achieve his ambitions and him joining the NDA led by BJP betrayed this.

Though Mr. George Fernandes was mostly active on the national stage — first in Mumbai and later in north India — he remained a key figure during the Janata Party years in the State through the 1980s and ’90s.

Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, paying homage on Tuesday, said Mr. George had helped him in the beginning years of his political career. He was the key man who influenced JD(U) in the State, then led by Ramakrishna Hegde and J.H. Patel, to form a pre-poll alliance with BJP that eventually helped BJP make inroads in the State. However, in the only electoral foray he made in the State, by contesting from Bangalore North Lok Sabha constituency in the 1984 general elections, he lost to C.K. Jaffer Sharief of Congress.