Born on June 3, 1930 in Mangalore, George Fernandes began his political career as a trade union leader while working with the Indian Railways. His first big election victory came in 1967 when he won a parliamentary seat from the South Mumbai constituency.
Photo: The Hindu Archives
In 1975, he opposed Indira Gandhi's Emergency and was arrested in the Baroda dynamite case, in which he and others were charged with smuggling dynamite to blow up government establishments and railway tracks.
Photo: The Hindu Archives
Following the Emergency, Fernandes fought the 1977 Lok Sabha elections. He was made Minister for Communications, with the Janata Party
Photo: The Hindu Archives
He also served as Union Minister for Industries. Here he is seen receiving Dr. Gerhard Weiss, Co-Chairman of the Indo-GDR Joint Commission for Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation, in New Delhi in 1977
Photo: THE HINDU ARCHIVES
In this picture, Fernandes is seen at the Janata Party's National Executive meeting in Bangalore on April 28, 1987, with former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar (centre) and Yashwant Sinha.
Photo: THE HINDU ARCHIVES
Fernandes later joined the Janata Dal and served under Prime Minister V.P. Singh (far right) as Minister of Railways from 1989-1990. Fernandes played a pivotal role in the Konkan Railway Project.
Photo: The Hindu Archives
In 1994, Fernandes co-founded the Samta Party. Here he is releasing the party manifesto with Devi Lal (above) in April 1996.
Photo: THE HINDU ARCHIVES
Fernandes served twice as Defence Minister under the NDA governments during 1998-2004.
Photo: V. SUDERSHAN
During his term as Defence Minister, India conducted the nuclear test at Pokhran, Rajasthan. Here, the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and APJ Abdul Kalam celebrate the mission in May 1998.
Photo: PTI/THE HINDU ARCHIVES
As Defence Minister, in 2003, he took a ride on the Russian made Sukhoi-30 fighter jet.
Photo: Reuters
Fernandes was elected as an MP from Muzaffarpur three times in his career. Above, he files his nomination as a JD(U) candidate in 2004.
Photo: Ranjeet Kumar
He was present at the 'Save Democracy' convention organised by the Karnataka unit of the BJP to mark the 30th anniversary of the Emergency, in Bangalore on June 26, 2005. The then Bharatiya Janata Party president L.K. Advani and M. Venkaiah Naidu were also present.
Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy
As NDA Convenor, Fernandes took part in a protest march against the non-inclusion of Dalit Christians and Muslims in Scheduled Casts list in New Delhi on March 14, 2008.
Photo: Rajeev Bhatt
The same month, he was also present, with Jaya Jaitly during a demonstration against Chinese aggression in Tibet, in New Delhi.
Photo: Rajeev Bhatt