FROM BEING A STREET FIGHTER HE WENT ON TO BECOME A SEASONED AND FIERY POLITICIAN

> George Fernandes came to Bombay (now, Mumbai) aged barely 19 looking for a job and spent many a nights on the mean streets, fighting roaches and rodents, but never complained

> He climbed up the ladder the hard way with his own skills, talent and leadership traits, learning everything en route — even 10 languages!

> Though his Mangalore-based middle-class family had dreams of him becoming a priest at a seminary there, Fernandes was lured by another call — that of public service — and plunged headlong into the socialist Movement and trade unionism

> During his early days in unionism, he spent several spells in jails and was elected a corporator twice to the Bombay Municipal Corporation > He eventually became ‘George the Giant-killer’ when he vanquished the then ‘uncrowned King of Bombay’ the veteran Congress leader s.K. Patil in the 1967 elections

> He started as a proof-reader in a newspaper, and took to unionism with the influence of persons like Placid d’Mello and later Ram Manohar Lohiya, battling for the workers’ rights, taximen, and government employees

> After years of defending workers, decades later Fernandes went on to ‘defend’ the country as the flamboyant defence minister > Over the next two decades or so, he became the ‘striking George’, organising a series of strikes, including the famous 20-day AllIndia railway strike of 1974

> That historic action which crippled the government catapulted him to global fame as the political establishment was brought to its knees and was regarded as one of the key factors leading to the emergency, imposed by Indira Gandhi, a year later

> Fernandes later won the 1977 Lok sabha polls from Muzaffarpur in Bihar even while in jail and became Industry Minister in the Janata Party government of Morarji Desai. He was responsible for driving out Coca-Cola from India in keeping with his socialist credentials but the drink made its re-entry later

> He served as Railways Minister in the V.P. Singh government from 1989 to 1990 and was instrumental in setting up the Konkan Railway project, connecting Mangalore and Bombay

> In 1994, Fernandes formed the samata Party, which later allied with the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was appointed convenor of the National democratic Alliance and was the defence Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government for two terms, between 1998 and 2004

> His term was eventful as it witnessed the Kargil war and the Pokhran nuclear test. He was forced to resign on allegations of a scam in purchase of coffins during the Kargil war for bringing bodies of soldiers but returned to the Vajpayee cabinet after a clean chit from the Phukan Commission of Inquiry

> Fernandes, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s, has been out of the public eye and has been bedridden for more than eight years Fernandes leaves behind his wife Leila and a son, who lives in New York. —