George Fernandes’s biography to be out next month

The first comprehensive biography of India’s former Union Defence Minister and firecracker socialist leader, the late George Fernandes, is set to be released next month. Penguin Random House India, which will be the publisher of the biography, 'The Life and Times of George Fernandes', made the announcement on Monday.

Written by Rahul Ramagundam, the book is going to release on 25 July under the Allen Lane imprint, a press statement by Penguin Random House India said.

'The Life and Times of George Fernandes' is the story of the socialist politician—who was also a trade union leader and an incredible orator—told like never before. The title will take the readers on a comprehensive trip through Fernandes’s life—from the streets of Bombay (now Mumbai) to the corridors of power in Delhi.

Ramagundam opens a window into the story of the man, who was popularly known for leading the All India Railwaymen’s Federation in May 1974 and calling upon its approximately 1.7 million employees to strike, which brought India to a halt for 20 days. This, and many such stories from Fernandes’s life and the causes he so passionately believed in, will come to light in this book.

In this fascinating biography, Ramagundam also traces the course of the Socialist Party in India: from its inception in the 1930s to its assimilation into the Janata Party in the late 1970s.

The book is a must-have for not only those who are interested to know more about Fernandes, but also those who are curious about history and read different accounts of the situations that changed the course of this nation.

Premanka Goswami, Associate Publisher at Penguin Random House India, said, “George Fernandes’s life and politics fascinated people across the spectrum. His commitment to fight for the rights of the working-class people; his role during the Emergency; and his ‘obsession’ to defeat the all-powerful Congress party from its dominant position in India’s politics finds a characteristic expression in this book. We’re excited to publish it from Penguin India.”

Ramagundam, commenting on his experience writing this book, said: “For 12 long years, I have lived in George’s mind, explored his soul, and interrogated his choices, journeyed with him through his highs and lows. Just as he did in pursuit of his politics, I have staked many things—family and friendships, job and joys—in writing this biography. I have spent weeks sifting through papers in padlocked archives, brushing off mounds of dust left by families of termites. I have peered at microfilms of newspapers on dim-lit screens of time-worn machines. His private collection of more than a hundred thousand papers prodded a kind of historian’s greed in me. The delirious tedium of making a story out of those disparate papers strangely never tired me out. Thanks to the nurturing staff at Penguin, the book is finally out in the world.”

Some of Ramagundam’s other books include 'Gandhi's Khadi' (2008) and 'Including the Socially Excluded' (2017).