George is 88 today. But he is not with us today in Mumbai. He is in Delhi lying on his bed. He does not get up. We cannot celebrate his birthday with him.

I’ve known George for ages. All of us have. He was always up and about. He was always active. One often wondered whether he ever slept.

But now he is sleeping. As if he is making up for all those years when he never slept.

I have been following public figures in India and abroad ever since I was a boy. Those who were alive then were Nehru, Chavan, JP, SM, Nath Pai, Lohia, Madhu Limaye, Krishna Menon. And George. I’ve always wondered what they contributed to India in those early days of Independence. And then I start comparing.

George had umpteen interests, as he himself always said. The first one was trade unionism. Mostly in Mumbai. The Municipal Mazdoor Union, Bombay Labour Union, Taximen’s Union. These were all his own creations. The BEST Workers Union was a legacy from P. De’Mello, his mentor.

In the 1950s and 1960s these unions became all powerful. Mumbai was then ruled by Dange, R. J. Mehta, S. R. Kulkarni. George believed in solidarity. And he made Bombay Bandh in support of the Premier Automobile union led by R. J. Mehta in 1960. This was a huge step in trade unionism in India. So much so that the Oxford English Dictionary added the words ‘bandh’, ‘gherao’, ‘chakka jam’ in their lexicons. The word bandh was certainly used by George for the first time for ‘total closure’.

It was in the 1960s that George shone as a corporator for eight years. Along with many other achievements, he was the one who refused to partake of a free flat sought to be allotted to municipal councellors, stating that the BMC was supposed to provide housing for the poor, and not have flats for themselves.

Now the Worli area right from the Mela restaurant to the hill behind Hill Top Hotel is full of huge flats for councillors, MLAs and MPs. Pramod Mahajan was shot in one such flat. Though George was entitled to a flat here, he did not take it.

Then George made history in 1967 when he became George the Giant Killer by defeating S. K Patil. This was a huge task. S. K. Patil was the uncrowned king of Bombay. But George did it. This was the true democrat in him. He then continued to fight elections from all over India, mostly winning: South Bombay, Muzzaffarpur, Nalanda. But also losing: South Bombay, Bangalore North, Banka. And though he was returned to the Lok Sabha so many times and for so many years, he lost his last election in Muzzaffarpur! But that is a different story.

George was the President of the All India Railwaymen’s Federation in 1974 and he brought about the Great Railway Strike which lasted for forty days. It was a total strike. It was a major step in the final ouster of Indira Gandhi, and one of the reasons why she imposed Emergency in 1975.

George always supported freedom movements in other countries: Tibet, Burma. His support was not silent. He even housed the activists in his house. He published their literature, he raised money for them. George also supported leaders like R. J. Mehta, Bal Thackeray, Sharad Joshi of Shetkari Sangathana, Sharad Pawar. But what did they give in return? And for that matter what did his followers do? He gave the trade union movement big leaders like Narayan Phenany, M. H. Baji, Sharad Rao, A. L. Quadros, Mahabal Shetty. Did some of these not betray George?

In Bihar George and the Samata Party opposed Lalu Prasad Yadav and his fodder scam. In this he worked with Abdul Gafoor and Nitish Kumar. Lalu was finally ousted. Nitish became the chief minister. Yalu in now in jail. George was the main force in this. Nitish changed sides. He went with the Congress and Lalu. Then he again went with the BJP when he should not have done it. George resigned his Lok Sabha seat in protest of the treatment the Biharis got on the streets of Mumbai.

George led a life of adventure. He slept on the railway tracks. Twice. He went to jail any number of times. The last time I remember was in Nashik in support of the Shetkari Sanghatana. He was tortured in jail. Not only by Indira Gandhi in Tihar Jail during the Emergency, but even by Morarji Desai and Yashwantrao Chavan in Bombay.

One reads about how Sawarkar dived into the sea at Marseilles. About Madanlal Dhingra. About Lohia and JP. About Subhash Chandra Bose when he jumped house arrest in Calcutta and travelled to Peshawar incognito as a Muslim communist. Well George escaped from Gopalpur-on-Sea as a fisherman. Overnight he went to Calcutta. And George travelled in North India in an Ambassador car as a bearded and turbaned Sardarji selling cars spare parts. When he was finally arrested in Calcutta, he was living in a church hostel as a mentally deranged old person from Belgaum! Even the father who took him in was fooled.

One talks about Senapati Bapat and his bomb. George too did it. He planned an armed uprising against the Emergency government of Indira Gandhi with the Baroda Dynamite Case. Real dynamite!

And as a member of Parliament George was phenomenal. Even as an orator in public political meetings and trade union agitations. But he excelled in his Parliament speeches. His budget speeches are still quoted. George never belonged to large parties, and as such had little time allotted by the speaker. But friendly parties would lend their time to George.

George was exemplary as a minister. First as Communications Minister he sought to upgrade postal services by bringing reforms. Then as the Industries Minister he set up District Industrial Cells to promote industries in rural areas. He managed all industries then. The ministry was not split as it is now: chemicals, fertilisers, heavy industries, small industries, company affairs, agro industries.

His decision to oust Coca Cola and IBM were nationalistic measures. These companies were disregarding financial norms and had to go. Many people did not like this. But it had to be done.

As Railway Minister, George brought in the Konkan Railway. People dreamt about it since Independence: Walawalkar, Nath Pai, Madhu Dandawate. But Only George did it. He took the support of four states. He engaged Bimal Jalan to work out the finances and Shreedharan to work out the technical aspects. He floated the Konkan Railway bonds which sold himself by addressing public meetings. The government fell in 11 months. But the Konkan Railway project did not stop. George endeavoured till the end. Even countering the incumbent railway minster.

George also served as Minister in charge of Kashmir Affairs. It happened this way. Rajiv Gandhi was the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. V. P. Singh was the prime minister. A Parliamentary delegation was sent to Kashmir, headed by Rajiv Gandhi. Farookh Abdullah was the chief minister. Jagmohan was the governor. Mufti Mohammad Sayeed war the Union home minister. The delegation was put up in the Dal Lake Palace Hotel for three days. None left the hotel as there was curfew in Srinagar.

Only George vanished and went to a railway guest house. He met terrorists who came with their AK47s. George was not deterred. He negotiated with the terrorists. When the party returned to Delhi, Rajiv Gandhi suggested that George should be given charge of Kashmir. But with Farookh, Mufti and Jagmohan around in key positions, George was not effective.

As Defence Minister George fought a war and won it: the Kargill War. People praise General Thimaiyya, General Carriappa, Field Marshall Manekshaw. Nehru, Chavan, Indira Gandhi, Lal Bahadur Shastri were praised. But not George. But I know how George worked for the Kargil victory. How he could not control his tears when corpses came home every day. His love for the Navy. His sacking of Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat. His modernisation of the armed forces. His morale boosting weekly visits to the frontiers. And especially his 37 visits to Siachen where the temperature is -40C.

All that they did was accuse him of the coffin scam, of Tehelka. And George came out of all that unblemished.

George was a fiery speaker. Yet very studied. He did genuine research before every speech. He went to agencies and think tanks to collect data and statistics. He carried notes for every speech. I have heard many orators in my day. George was one of the best. In the bracket of Nehru, JP, Atal Bihari Bajpayee, Dange, Atre, P. L. Deshpande.

George knew all the languages on India. Fernandes speaks ten languages—Konkani, English, Hindi, Tulu, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam, and Latin. Konkani is his mother tongue. He learnt Marathi and Urdu in jail, and Latin while he was in the seminary in his early youth. He is extremely fluent in Hindi and English. I’ve myself heard him speak Tulu, Kannada, Konkani, Marathi, Gujarati, Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, English. He had even studied Latin. And he wrote in Kannada, Konkani, Marathi, Hindi and English.

As a writer George was a literary stylist. He was very sensitive. I worked with him for over 25 years. I printed the monthly the OtherSide and all his later books. I had the task of editing and proofreading his text. I hardly had to do much. The text was so perfect.

George fought single-handed in Kutch to keep Cargill away and saved the Kandla Port, very important for strategic reasons.

So we have here a trade unionist, activist, political leader, parliamentarian, minister, orator, author, editor par excellance. But no one ever bothered to celebrate him with awards. Thirdrate people have got Best Parliamentarian awards. Lesser humans have got Padma Visbhusans. George has more than deserved all this. I recommend that he should be given the Bharat Ratna. But who will do so? The Congress? The BJP?

And so George is lying there alone, dreaming. God knows what he is thinking. Probably of the next agitation when he gets the strength to do so.