George Fernandes
|
|
George Fernandes (born 1930) is an Indian politician. He was born in what is now the state of Karnataka, but his power base is now mainly Bihar. He came to prominence in the 1970s, first as a railway union leader during the paralysing railway strike of 1974, and afterwards as an opponent of Indira Gandhi's imposition of Emergency, which caused his imprisonment. In the Janata Party government that came into power in 1977, he became industries minister and forced several multinational corporations out of the country, notably Coca Cola and IBM. He is blamed by many for the fall of the Morarji Desai government by switching sides at the last moment to Charan Singh, on the advice of his political mentor, the socialist Ram Manohar Lohia.
His Samata Party became a member of the BJP-led coalition government in 1998, making him Defence Minister. He presided over India's first nuclear tests in 24 years shortly afterwards. He resigned in February 2001 after accusations of corruption in the Defense Ministry, brought by the independent newspaper Tehelka, but was reinstated a few months later, despite video evidence of a fellow party colleague accepting bribes. In 2003, his Samata Party merged with the Janata Dal (United), taking the latter's name, and becoming the head of the combined party. He remained defence minister until the party's election defeat in May 2004. Fernandes is part of India's Christian minority.
Fernandes is the President of the Hind Mazdoor Kisan Panchayat.sv:George Fernandes