George Fernandes, who hailed from Mangaluru, was perhaps the first politician from the State to make it big on the national political landscape.

Though many leaders from the State held the charge of key Union Ministries before him, what set him apart from them was the mass appeal he enjoyed even outside the State. From the then Bombay to Bihar, he grew as a tall leader with mass appeal who could deliver electoral victories for his party in those turfs — a career that doesn’t seem to have any parallels in the State. “He was perhaps the only leader from the State to emerge as a national political icon for the railway strike and his underground resistance to the Emergency of the 1970s,” said his brother and politician Michael Fernandes.

Mr. George Fernandes also nursed ambitions to become the Prime Minister, says social activist Nandana Reddy, daughter of Snehalata Reddy who was closely associated with the late leader from 1954.

“He was an incredible trade union leader. Look at the way he led a three-week-long railway workers’ strike, which brought the country to a grinding halt. He had a flair for dramatics and was aware of its role to build and sustain a social movement,” she said. Recounting an anecdote, she said: “He used to say ‘1, Safdarjung Road’, where the Prime Minister then stayed was just a few steps away.”

However, it never came to be. She said that though he was a key follower of socialist Ram Manohar Lohia, he did not have a firm ideological stand needed to achieve his ambitions and him joining the NDA led by BJP betrayed this.

Though Mr. George Fernandes was mostly active on the national stage — first in Mumbai and later in north India — he remained a key figure during the Janata Party years in the State through the 1980s and ’90s.

Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, paying homage on Tuesday, said Mr. George had helped him in the beginning years of his political career. He was the key man who influenced JD(U) in the State, then led by Ramakrishna Hegde and J.H. Patel, to form a pre-poll alliance with BJP that eventually helped BJP make inroads in the State. However, in the only electoral foray he made in the State, by contesting from Bangalore North Lok Sabha constituency in the 1984 general elections, he lost to C.K. Jaffer Sharief of Congress.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Muralidhara Khajane & K.V. Aditya Bharadwaj / Bengaluru – January 30th, 2019