George Fernandes, the legendary Socialist who had took on formidable opponents throughout his career died today. The man was a Trade Union leader who could bring Bombay (now Mumbai) to a screeching halt with his call for lightning strikes, until Siv Sena broke the backbone of Communist led Trade unions.
He was arrested, jailed and harassed by Indira Gandhi during Emergency days. He was released before the 1977 Elections when the Janata Party of which he was part off swept entire North India where Congress won 228 out of 229 seats, with the Congress candidate and the present CM of Madhya Pradesh Kamal Nath winning the solidarity seat in the entire North India from Chhindwara. Both Indira Gandhi and her heir apparent Sanjay Gandhi were soundly defeated, the former by a political buffoon named Raj Narain.
George Fernandes was rewarded as a Minister. Soon after he banished IBM and Coca Cola from India to prove his credence to Socialism. Those were the days Government was the biggest employer with a Hindu rate of growth. George was just playing to the gallery.
Over the years he grew more pragmatic, though the maverick and socialist in him never died. In the early part of his tenure as defence minister in Vajpayee's ministry, Fernandes was once very pissed off when he came to know that two bureaucrats in the ministry's finance department were sitting on a file for procurement of snow scooters for soldiers in Siachen.
Officials who worked with Fernandes said he immediately issued orders for sending the two officials to the Siachen glacier to have a first hand experience of soldiers' life there.
He sent defence ministry officials on familiarisation trips to various parts of Jammu and Kashmir and to the areas bordering China in Arunachal to see for themselves the difficulties faced by border guards, sizing the Babus up.
Last few years he had been allegedly suffering from Parkinson's disease. With his demise India lost a pan Indian politician who ran for office from North (Bihar), South (Bangalore) and West (Bombay). RIP George Fernandes.
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