Party Name : Janata Dal (United)
Constituency : Muzaffarpur
State : Bihar
Member Experience : Elected to Loksabha 9 time
Last Loksabha Attended : 14
Father's Name : Shri John Fernandes
Mother's Name : Smt. Alice Fernandes
Date of birth : 03 Jun 1930
Profession : Trade Unionist Agriculturist, Social Worker, Journalist
Positions held :
1967 Elected to 4th Lok Sabha1967-70 Member, Committee on Petitions1969-73 General Secretary, Samyukta Socialist Party1973-77 Chairman, Socialist PartyPresident, All India Railwaymen’s Federation1977 Re-elected to 6th Lok Sabha (2nd term)March-July 1977 Union Cabinet Minister, Communications1977-79 Union Cabinet Minister, Industry1980 Re-elected to 7th Lok Sabha (3rd term)1989 Re-elected to 9th Lok Sabha (4th term)1989-90 Union Cabinet Minister, RailwaysMarch-May 1990 Minister of Kashmir Affairs (Additional charge)1990-91 Member, Railway Convention Committee1991 Re-elected to 10th Lok Sabha (5th term)1993-96 Member, Committee on FinanceMember, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Home Affairs1994 onwards President, Samata Party1996 Re-elected to 11th Lok Sabha (6th term)1996-97 Member, Committee on External AffairsMember, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Human Resource Development1998 Re-elected to 12th Lok Sabha (7th term)1998-99 Union Cabinet Minister, DefenceMember, General Purposes Committee1999 Re-elected to 13th Lok Sabha (8th term)Leader, Janata Dal (U), Parliamentary Party, Lok Sabha13 Oct. 1999 - 16 March 2001 Union Cabinet Minister, DefenceMember, General Purposes Committee15 Oct. 2001- May 2004 Union Cabinet Minister, Defence2004 Re-elected to 14th Lok Sabha( 9th term)Member, Committee on External Affairs5 Aug. 2007 onwards Member, Standing Committee on Rural Development
More Information :
Books Published
(i) ‘What Ails the Socialists’; (ii) ‘Railway Strike of 1974’; and (iii) ‘George Fernandes Speaks’
Literary, Artistic & Scientific Accomplishments
Editor, “The Other side” (English monthly); and Chairman, Editorial Board of Pratipaksh (Hindi monthly)
Special Interests
Human rights and civil liberties movements all over the world and anti-nuclear and environmental campaigns
Countries Visited
Widely travelled
Other Information
As President of the All India Railwaymen’s Federation led the Railway strike involving 1.5 million workers in 1974, resulting in thousands being sent to jail. This was one of the events that led to the imposition of the Emergency in June 1975; during the Emergency, went underground and fought the existing rule; arrested in June 1976 on the charge of overawing and overthrowing the Government in what came to be known as Baroda Dynamite conspiracy case; fought the 1977 elections from jail; Founder Chairman, The New India Cooperative Bank; Co-Chairman, Indo-Libyan, Indo-GDR and Indo-Hungarian Joint Commissions, 1977-79; Chairman, (i) India Development Group, London, 1979; (ii) Schumacher Foundation, 1979; President, Hind Mazdoor Kisan Panchayat; Member, (i) Amnesty International; (ii) Press Council of India; and (iii) People’s Union for Civil Liberties; associated with Samajwadi Abhiyan—a platform for Socialist Campaigns; Convenor, National Democratic Alliance (NDA)
