Mumbai: Former Defence Minister George Fernandes passed away on Tuesday morning. He was 88, as per media reports Fernandes was suffering from swine flu from few weeks.
From a long time he was also suffering from the disease of Alzheimer. in January 2010 was undergoing treatment at Baba Ramdev’s ashram at Haridwar.
George was a former Indian trade unionist, politician, journalist, agriculturist, and member of Rajya Sabha from Bihar. He was a key member of the Janata Dal and is the founder of the Samata Party. He has held several ministerial portfolios including communications, industry, railways, and defense.
The most notable strike organized by Fernandes, when he was President of the All India Railwaymen’s Federation, was the All India Railway strike of 1974, where the entire nation was brought to a halt. The strike was the result of grievances by railway workers that had been built up over two decades before the strike. Though there were three Pay commissions between 1947 and 1974, none of them increased the standard of living of the workers.
Fernandes served as Defense Minister of India in 2nd and 3rd National Democratic Alliance Governments (1998-2004). During his tenure as Defense Minister, in 1999, Kargil war broke out over Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
In May 1998, India conducted five nuclear tests in the Pokhran range of Rajasthan. Earlier, the fanatical supporter of nuclear disarmament, Fernandes candidly supported NDA government’s decision to test nuclear bombs.
Fernandes speaks ten languages Konkani, English, Hindi, Tulu, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam, and Latin. Konkani is his mother tongue. He learned Marathi and Urdu in jail, and Latin while he was in the seminary in his early youth. He is extremely fluent in Hindi and English
George took his last breath in Delhi at the age of 88.
