For the American soccer player, see George Fernandez.
George Fernandes
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
(1930-06-03)3 June 1930 Mangalore, Madras Presidency, British India (present-day Mangaluru, Karnataka, India)
Died
29 January 2019(2019-01-29) (aged 88) New Delhi, India
Political party
Samata Party[1][2]
Other political affiliations
Samyukta Socialist Party
Janata Party
Janata Dal
Janata Dal (United)
National Democratic Alliance
Spouse
Leila Kabir
Children
1 son
Residence(s)
Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Awards
Padma Vibhushan (2020) (posthumously)
Signature
Source: [1]
George Mathew Fernandes[3] (3 June 1930 – 29 January 2019) was an Indian trade unionist, statesman,[4] and journalist,[5] 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.[6] He was a key member of the Janata Dal and the founder of the Samata Party.[7] Holding several prominent ministerial portfolios during his career, including communication, industry, railways, and defence,[8] he was posthumously awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award, in 2020.[9][10][11][12]
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,[13] 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.[14] He died on 29 January 2019 at the age of 88.[15]
^"SAMATA PARTY – Official Website". Retrieved 30 April 2022.
^Gupta, Smita (24 October 2013). "Now a Samata Manch to build anti-Congress platform". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 26 December 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
^Reddy 1977, p. 144 "(i) Accused George Mathew Fernandes (hereinafter referred to as George Fernandes) was the former Chairman of the Socialist Party of India and also the President of the All India Railway- men's Federation."
^Sharma, Surender (1 July 2010). "By George! It's out on the street". MiD DAY. Archived from the original on 16 September 2012. Retrieved 3 September 2010. As if it had not earned enough bad name and publicity for one of the most veteran politicians and trade unionist George Fernandes, claimants to his legacy slug it out in streets on Wednesday.
^"Biographical Sketch (Member of Parliament: 13th Lok Sabha)". Parliament of India. Archived from the original on 12 August 2010. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
^"Shri George Fernandes General Information". Government of Bihar. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 3 September 2010.
^"Flaming torch a free symbol, EC can allot it to any other party: Delhi HC dismisses Samata Party's appeal". The Indian Express. 19 November 2022. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
^"Fernandes: Popular but controversial minister". BBC. 15 March 2001. Archived from the original on 11 February 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2010.
^"George Fernandes, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj conferred Padma awards". www.business-standard.com. Press Trust of India. 9 November 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
^"Padma awards for George, Vashishtha & six others from state". The Times of India. 26 January 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
^"Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, George Fernandes given Padma Vibhushan posthumously. Here's full list of Padma award recipients". The Economic Times. 26 January 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
^"MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS" (PDF). padmaawards.gov.in. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
^"Why despite several controversial moves, George Fernandes continues to inspire us". www.dailyo.in.
^"The loneliness of George Fernandes". The Hindu. 21 April 2009 – via www.thehindu.com.
^Cite error: The named reference TheHindu2019_jan was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
January 2019 at the age of 88. GeorgeFernandes was born on 3 June 1930 to John Joseph Fernandes and Alice Martha Fernandes (née Pinto), in Mangalore to...
Party (SAP) is a political party in India, initially formed in 1994 by GeorgeFernandes and Nitish Kumar, is now being led by Uday Mandal as its National President...
Patel, Indian National Congress (Muzaffarpur cum Darbhanga) ^ by-poll GeorgeFernandes (Janata Party - Secular) : 195,510 votes Digvijay Narayan Singh (Janata...
Lawrence Fernandes (1932-14 November 2005) was a socialist political leader from India. He was brother of GeorgeFernandes. Lawrence Fernandes was born...
split in Socialist Party. One faction of SSP led by Madhu Limaye and GeorgeFernandes wanted to merge with PSP but another faction led by Raj Narain resisted...
United States. Jaitly met the politician GeorgeFernandes when her husband started working for him. On Fernandes' request, she joined the Socialist Trade...
The GeorgeFernandes Institute of Tunnel Technology is a school at Margao, Goa established[when?] by the Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd. "for assimilation...
closely associated with the socialist leader GeorgeFernandes and Sushma Swaraj became a part of GeorgeFernandes's legal defence team in 1975. She actively...
Dal, Swatantra Party, the Socialist Party of India of Raj Narain and GeorgeFernandes, and the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) joined, dissolving their separate...
and other left-leaning members, like Madhu Limaye, Krishan Kant, and GeorgeFernandes that no member of the Janata party could simultaneously be a member...
with Janata Party. Ajit Singh was made president of Janata Party. GeorgeFernandes, Biju Patnaik, Madhu Dandavate and Ramakrishna Hegde opposed this merger...
trade union leader GeorgeFernandes, broke off to join the Samyukta Socialist Party in 1967. In 1972, a section merged with Fernandes's party to become the...
Emergency against the opposition leader GeorgeFernandes and 24 others. The Central Bureau of Investigation charged George and others of smuggling dynamite to...
Chandigarh. During the Emergency of 1975–77, he defended socialist leader GeorgeFernandes in the famous Baroda dynamite case. He secured release of the underground...
1985. A socialist, Kumar founded the Samata Party in 1994 along with GeorgeFernandes. In 1996 he was elected to the Lok Sabha, and served as a Union Minister...
Deshmukh Anthony Lancelot Dias Uma Shankar Dikshit Kazi Lhendup Dorjee GeorgeFernandes P. B. Gajendragadkar Benjamin Gilman Ismaïl Omar Guelleh Zakir Husain...
Nagmani (merged with Rashtriya Lok Samata Party). Samata Party of Late GeorgeFernandes (merged with Janata Dal (United)) Socialist Janata (Democratic) Party...
journalists posing as agents and businessmen. The Defence Minister GeorgeFernandes was forced to resign following the Barak Missile scandal involving...
Subramaniam(Industrial Development) T. A. Pai(Industry) Brij Lal Verma GeorgeFernandes Kasu Brahmananda Reddy T. A. Pai N. D. Tiwari Kotla Vijay Bhaskar Reddy...
Charan Singh Chandra Shekhar Devakanta Barua Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed GeorgeFernandes Hans Raj Khanna Harchand Singh Longowal H. N. Bahuguna Indira Gandhi...
become the Finance Minister. He was also the Defence Minister when GeorgeFernandes was forced to resign after the Tehelka exposure. Singh is widely regarded...
29 May 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2019. "Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, GeorgeFernandes given Padma Vibhushan posthumously. Here's full list of Padma award...