Review: The Life and Times of George Fernandes by Rahul Ramagundam
Hindustan TimesOne of the most iconic images of the Emergency, the 22-month period when former prime minister Indira Gandhi suppressed the press, imprisoned opponents, and ruled by decree, is of trade union leader George Fernandes raising his shacked fist in a defiant gesture after being arrested in 1976. Given the key role Fernandes played in India’s post-Independence politics, his new biography by historian Rahul Ramagundam is a major contribution to the ever-increasing literature on the country’s modern history. The Fernandes biography was supported by a New India Foundation fellowship, a prestigious grant that has helped produce some of the best contemporary works of history over the past decade including journalist Akshay Mukul’s award-winning Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India and documentary filmmaker Saba Dewan’s Tawaifnama, among others. Ramagundam has also taken a deep dive into the various archives around the country that preserve papers of Fernandes’ contemporaries as well as newspapers, magazines, journals, and films. Author Rahul Ramagundam The writer also creates an epic framework to provide a context to the text of Fernandes’ life.
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