George, grounded

A Nitish Kumar victory in November has seen a George Fernandes exit in April. With Sharad Yadav running away with the presidentship of the Janata Dal United, George Fernandes 8212; the man who took on prime ministers and may well have imagined himself becoming one 8212; has lost his only toe-hold in the larger political space. The one role that still brought Fernandes the attention of primetime television cameras 8212; as the lynchpin of a largely imagined NDA coalition 8212; stands null and void now that he is no longer an office-bearer in the JDU.

The magnificent contradictions of a political career spanning four decades 8212; he was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1967 8212; gives cause to pause. Here was a man who espoused Socialist politics and went on to broker a rightwing political arrangement that presided over the country for six years. Here was a man who took on the might of the Indian state, and went on to become one of its pillars. Here was a man who threatened to blow up railway tracks, and went on to become a railway minister. Here was a man who had once sharply criticised the Babri Masjid demolition and went on to defend Narendra Modi8217;s handling of the Gujarat riots. Here was a man who talked of world peace and Hiroshima, but found himself the country8217;s defence minister during Pokhran II. Here was a man who dropped out from Catholic priesthood and went on to offer a whitewash of an inquiry report on the heinous killing of Australian missionary, Graham Staines, and his two sons. Here was a man who wore khadi kurta-pyjamas and washed them himself and yet found himself implicated in grave charges of financial turpitude. The contradictions of this man never seem to end. Perhaps the only consistency George Fernandes ever displayed over these four decades was an unremitting and implacable hostility to the Congress Party and the Nehru-Gandhi family.

If there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies in Indian politics, there are no permanent goodbyes either. So even our tentative farewell to one of India8217;s most confounding politicians comes with a question mark.