New Delhi: Former Union Minister George Fernandes passed away Tuesday after a prolonged illness. He was 88. Fernandes had held the defence portfolio during the reign of Atal Behari Vajpayee.
Fernandes had been bedridden for some time now and was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. His last stint as a parliamentarian was as a Rajya Sabha MP from August 2009 to July 2010.
Fernandes was one of the pioneers of the socialist movement in India. He was senior Janata Dal leader before he founded the Samata Party.
During the 1975 Emergency when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister, Fernandes was jailed with many other politicians. He contested the 1977 elections from the Muzaffarpur constituency and in spite of being behind bars, he won by a landslide margin.
Agencies