Chennai is in mourning, though silently, For George Fernandez, the firebrand socialist leader who bade farewell to this world early Tuesday morning. Chennai was a home away from home for the departed soul. And he is one of those rare politicians in the country who could walk into Veda Nilayam (residence of former Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa) and Gopalapuram (the residence  of DMK patriarch Karunanidhi) and would be welcomed with the same warmth.

The former Defence Minister did not speak Tamil. But that did not come in his way in establishing a strong bond with Karunanidhi.   When Karunanidhi was arrested by the Jayalalithaa Government and put behind the bars in the central prison at Chennai in 2001, George Fernandez was the first non-DMK leader to call on him and express the solidarity of the NDA with the DMK chief.

During the short- lived NDA-I Government (1998-1999), George Fernandez was a regular visitor to Chennai to pacify the short tempered Jayalalithaa, because the Vajpayee Government survived on the life support system by name AIADMK. Jayalalithaa was a woman in a hurry those days. The Karunanidhi Government which came to power in 1996 had registered many cases of corruption against her and had constituted many special courts to fast track the cases.

Jayalalithaa had only one demand to make to the Centre. Get the Karunanidhi Government dismissed under Article 356 of the Constitution and appoint a Governor who would be pliable to the moods of  her. While the Vajpayee Government sat over her demands, Amma turned furious. George Fernandez’s mission was to keep her in good humour.

All TV channels and political reporters would stand outside Veda Nilayam for George Fernadez to come out after meeting the lady of the house. “Well, you know she is the chairperson of the NDA and could not attend our last meeting in New Delhi because she was not well. Since I am the convenor, it is my responsibility to brief her about what transpired in the meeting and also to solicit her comments on various issues,” George will tell reporters with a smiling face.

What was unique about George Fernandez was his uncombed hair and trade mark kurta-pyjama (of course un-ironed). And he always traveled in a battered Ambassador car while all visitors to Veda Nilayam used to commute in swanky high end cars.

Chennai was dear to Fernandez because it was here he lived in hiding when the police was after him during the internal emergency. Nonagenarian journalist and former member of the CPI(M) Kunhanandan Nair, who was the Berlin correspondent of “Blitz” has a lot to speak about his old friend George. “George Fernandez was a close friend of Willy Brandt, former Chancellor of West Germany. Both Brandt and George were members of Socialist  International of which the former was the president. George spent many days in Germany when the police of Indira Gandhi was after him. Brandt had a special affection for George because of his revolutionary nature,” remembered Nair.  

The fate of the first NDA Government under Vajpayee was sealed the day George Fernandez told the BJP leadership that enough was enough with Jayalalithaa. Though a firebrand socialist, George was an excellent communicator and  negotiator. He had that talent to keep even the most quarrelsome partners in good humour. It is said that when he found it impossible to carry on with the likes of certain leaders in the AIADMK, he is reported to have told the then Prime Minister Vajpayee to say bye to Amma.