Samata Party Founder And Ex-Defence Minister George Fernandes Is No More

Former defence minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, George Fernandes, passed away in New Delhi on Tuesday (29 January), a report in News18 said.

He was 88 and had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. His final political stint was between August 2009 and July 2010 as a member of the Rajya Sabha.

Born in Mangaluru, Karnataka, Fernandes was the founder of the Samata Party. He rose to prominence as a crusader against the Indira Gandhi-imposed Emergency and also served as a Union minister during the Janata Party government headed by Morarji Desai between 1977 and 1980.

Fernandes quit as defence minister in 2004 after the ‘coffin gate’ scandal broke out. He was subsequently exonerated by two commissions of inquiry constituted to probe the alleged scam.