Fire-brand trade unionist, maverick politician, superb parliamentarian and socialist icon, George Fernandes traversed many realms. His journey from Mangalore to Lutyens’ Delhi is the stuff of legend. The man who could bring Bombay to a standstill with a bandh call, whom many in the establishment considered to be an eyesore. He suffered imprisonment several times and was the victim of police brutality. An abiding image of the Emergency is George in shackles raising his clenched fist in defiance.
It is this iconic photograph that ignited Rahul Ramagundam’s desire to write the biography The Life and Times of George Fernandes. An Associate Professor at Jamia Milia Islamia, Ramagundam spent 12 years writing the book. The sources are the private papers of George and a few others along with interviews. Painstaking research with academic discipline and a deep sense of history has produced an immensely readable biography.
The biography explores every facet of George’s life, warts and all, while also tracing key contemporary political developments. What ails the socialist movement in India gets in-depth coverage.
His upbringing in a Roman Catholic agricultural family in Mangalore, giving up seminary life, initiation into trade unionism by socialists and earning the wrath of his disciplinarian father, are all covered sensitively. It was a hard grind for him in Bombay. Within 10 years, George firmly established himself as a powerful trade union leader. In the 1967 elections, he emerged as a giant killer by defeating Congress-strongman S K Patil in South Bombay.
The biography also throws light on the resistance movement during the Emergency, which was largely unknown due to censorship. When the Emergency was declared, George went underground and organised resistance by travelling across India incognito. For him, Emergency was nothing less than a fascist dictatorship. Drawing inspiration from the revolutionaries, he devised plans to resort to violence to fight the draconian rule.
Detained and tortured
Scores of people who assisted George were detained and tortured. They included his brothers Michael and Lawrence. Lawrence was tortured in Carlton House, leaving him crippled. Snehalata Reddy of Samskara fame suffered due to her proximity to George. She was tortured in Bangalore Central jail and died soon after release. Another victim of police brutality was Girija Huigol, a medical graduate who was romantically involved with George.
George asks Indira Gandhi in a letter from the underground: “What is one to do with a congenital liar like you?’’ By the time George was arrested 11 months later he was well known abroad. He was held in a cage-like structure and tortured. His life was saved only because the Socialist International interceded on his behalf.
Anti-Congressism defined George’s politics. His finest hour was the formation of the Janata Party Government in 1977. As an industry minister in the Morarji government, he courted controversy by ousting IBM and Coca-Cola from India. Industrialists detested him. Many still blame George for the collapse of the Janata government paving the way for the triumphant return of Indira Gandhi.
Ramagundam presents George as a complex personality. Though George had the moral courage to take on the mightiest, he also had the knack for undoing his own good work. He backed Punjab and Assam agitations. The man who had raised a storm over the dual membership of Jan Sanghis had no problem in joining NDA and becoming its convener. He was dismissive of the Gujarat riots of 2002 saying “what is happening in Gujarat is nothing new.’’
George led a spartan life. Throughout his life, he washed his own clothes and ate frugally. He had thrown open the gates of his official bungalow for the public. He strove for people-friendly governance.
He had a troubled marriage with Leila Kabir. She resented his busy schedule. She was gutsy and volatile and struggling with depression. The birth of their son Sean did not improve matters. He once said the day he got married was the last day he ever smiled. When Leila walked out, Jaya Jaitley walked in, acting as his consort and colleague. The unseemly spectacle of the two women laying claim to an ailing George in full media glare was a sickening event. The dogged fighter spent the last 10 years of his life bedridden with Alzheimer’s and unaware of his surroundings.