Abhijith N Kolpe
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru
Mangaluru, Feb 2: The biography of Padma Vibhushan the late George Fernandes is set to be released in June later this year. History professor Rahul Ramagundam has taken up the work to write the biography of the well-known leader and former minister.
George Fernandes passed away on January 29, 2019. George hailed from Bejai Mangaluru, was the leader of the downtrodden and a charismatic trade union leader. George’s personality was filled with the spirit of nationalism and stayed away from any sort of corruption. He was the man behind the Konkan railway project which was completed in a record short period of seven years during his tenure. George Fernandes was the defence minister in the Vajpayee-led BJP government in 1998 to 2004. He saw India through the Kargil war and Sea Bird project getting implemented quickly. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award posthumously in 2020 in the field of Public Affairs.
George Fernandes (left) and Rahul Ramagundam
Rahul Ramagundam hails from New Delhi, a history professor at Jamia Millia University New Delhi, has taken up the work to write the biography of the late George Fernandes.
Speaking to Daijiworld.com, Rahul said, "There are two possible dates to release the biography either on June 5, the birth anniversary of George Fernandes or June 25, the day Emergency was declared. The book will, however, be released in the month of June 2021.
"I took up the work of writing the biography in the year 2009 when I met George Fernandes. He was kind enough to give some of his private papers to me. It has become the base on which the book has been written. Besides private papers, a lot of other research work has been done such as looking into parliamentary and newspaper records. I could even get some of the private papers of his colleagues which are in Trimurthi library in Delhi. Some of the private papers I got from the people themselves.
"I have interviewed 200 people so far, and travelled all over the country including places like Mangaluru, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Nagaland and Baroda. George’s work took me there and helped me develop my research, through which I got to know about his associations. I visited Mangaluru several times, met Michael Lobo and some of his relatives. Most of my research was done at Balmatta by staying there, like going through some of the journals published by Catholic associations. Ozario and Christopher Saldanha were kind enough to take me round Mangaluru. Since 2015, every year, I kept visiting Mangaluru and did my research on the biography. During my research, I met his colleagues from the trade union, political colleagues, and met quite a few people in Karnataka as well.
"The book talks about 85 years of his journey from 1930 to 2019 in Mangaluru, Mumbai and many other cities. Quite a few chapters in, there is an important chapter on Emergency. The Emergency chapter I am dealing with has not been dealt in the same way in any other literature. George was the centre of resistance to the Emergency in the country. Hence, George, was the centre of the underground resistance activity. That kind of treatment of Emergency has not been done because I looked into the court files to get to know about it. The Emergency that has been treated up to now in the country has been treated either from Indira Gandhi’s point of view or Jayaprakash Narayan’s point of view. I went beyond it and looked into the central figures of Anti-Emergency resistance. So the resistance part was missing in the historical analysis of Emergency. So I looked into it.
"The book consists 500 to 600 pages. As of now, I cannot reveal the title of the biography. It will be revealed in the month of May. The book also has historical analysis of socialism in the country and trade union movement especially in Mumbai.
"He was already suffering from Alzheimer’s when I met him in 2009 and had forgotten a lot about his past. My meeting with him took place only in 2009 and 2010. By 2010, he was already on the bed and had forgotten almost everything. In 2009, when I met him, he was not so much of a talkative person. But I could make out from some of his gestures that he understood about my research and wanted to encourage me on the work I was doing on his life,” he said.
It may be recalled, on January 29, Bejai church parishioners commemorated the 2nd death anniversary of the late George Fernandes, followed by a condolence meet. A demand was made to name Mangaluru Junction railway station to Padma Vibhushan George Fernandes railway station and also to name the road from Mangaluru City Corporation to Bejai circle after him.