Seminar to mark 82nd birth day of George Fernandes

Mangalore, May 25: A seminar on former Union minister George Mathew Fernandes will be organised on June 4 in the city to mark his 82nd birth day.

A press release issued by George Fernandes Vichara Vedike of Janata Dal (United) stated that the contributions of Mr Fernades towards the country in general and Dakshina Kannada district in particular would be discussed in the programme that would commence at 4:00 pm at Town Hall, here.

As a trade unionist, politician, journalist, agriculturist, member of Rajya Sabha, minister the contributions of coastal based Mr Fernandes were memorable, said the release.

Mr Fernandes, who is currently suffering from Alzheimer's, was a key member of the JD(U), and was the founder of the Samata Party. He had held several ministerial portfolios including communications, industry, railways, and defence, and was the only Christian minister in Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's cabinet.

A native of Mangalore, Mr Fernandes was sent to Bangalore in 1946 to be trained as a priest. He moved to Bombay in 1949, and joined the socialist trade union movement. As a fiery trade union leader, he organised many strikes and bundhs in Bombay in the 1950s and 1960s. The most notable agitation he organised was the 1974 Railway strike, when he was President of the All India Railwaymen's Federation. He went underground during the Emergency era (1975), as he took on Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for imposing a state of emergency, but was arrested in 1976, and tried in the infamous Baroda dynamite case.

After Emergency was lifted, he won the Muzaffarpur seat in Bihar in 1977, and was appointed the Union Minister for Industries. During his tenure as union minister, he ordered American multinationals IBM and Coca Cola to leave the country, due to investment violations. He was the driving force behind the Konkan Railway project during his tenure as railway minister from 1989 to 1990.

He was a defence minister in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government (1998–2004), when the Kargil War broke out between India and Pakistan, and India conducted its nuclear tests at Pokhran. Though a veteran socialist, Mr Fernandes has been dogged by various controversies like the Barak Missile scandal, and Tehelka Scandal.