Tag: George Fernandes

Fernandes suffered from Alzheimer's disease, had swine flu for past few days Arrested during Emergency, he was a minister in the first non-Congress govt after Janata Party's defeat of Indira Gandhi He served as a Union minister several times, and held diverse portfolios George Mathew Fernandes, a former Union Defence Minister in the Vajpayee government who was elected nine times to the Lok Sabha, died on Tuesday in New Delhi. A veteran parliamentarian who was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1967, George Fernandes served several times as a Union Cabinet Minister, holding portfolios such as communications, industry, and railways, besides defence. President Ram Nath Kovind said today that George Fernandes was "champion of democracy, during the Emergency and beyond". George Fernandes and others were charged with smuggling dynamite in an alleged plot to blow up railway tracks and government buildings in the Baroda Dynamite Case. He was still in prison when he won in Muzaffarpur in the 1977 general election. George Fernandes was born in Mangaluru in British India, on June 3, 1930. "When we think of Mr George Fernandes, we remember most notably the fiery trade union leader who fought for justice, the leader who could humble the mightiest of politicians at the hustings, a visionary Railway Minister and a great Defence Minister who made India safe and strong," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said. "He epitomised simple living and high thinking," President Ram Nath Kovind said. "We will all miss him." Jump to navigation Load.....