Biography of George Fernandes to hit stands next month
A new biography of one of India’s most firebrand union leaders and former Central minister George Fernandes will trace his journey from the streets of Bombay to the corridors of power in Delhi, announced the Penguin Random House India (PRHI) on Saturday. Former Defence Minister George Fernandes. (Express photo by Ashok Nath Dey) “The Life and Times of George Fernandes”, written by Rahul Ramagundam, will be released under Penguin’s ‘Allen Lane’ imprint on July 25. The announcement of the “first comprehensive biography” on the veteran socialist leader, widely considered an anti-Emergency hero, marks the 47th anniversary of the Emergency. Fernandes, born on June 3, 1930, in Mangalore to a Christian family, burst into national limelight when as a trade unionist in Mumbai he organised a Railways strike in 1974 that brought the country to a standstill. He became the Railways minister in 1989 under V P Singh’s National Front coalition government, comprising mostly Left-leaning parties. Ferna...