Oscar Fernandes: Gandhi family loyalist who donned many hats

Aditi Tandon

Veteran Congressman Oscar Fernandes passed away on Monday after nearly five decades of active political life. He was 80. He died at a private hospital in Mangalore, where he was admitted in July after a fall during a yoga session.

Fernandes began his political career as member, municipal council, Udupi, in 1972 and rose to become a nine-time MP — five terms in the Lok Sabha and four in the Rajya Sabha. He was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1980, where he remained until 1997. In 1998, Fernandes made his RS debut and was currently a sitting member from Karnataka, capping 41 years in Parliament alone.

A Gandhi family loyalist, Fernandes was minister of state in UPA-I and cabinet minister with road transport, highways and labour portfolios in UPA-II. He served in various capacities — member of the Congress Working Committee, Karnataka Congress president, AICC joint secretary and general secretary.

Fernandes’ early rise in the Congress was attributed to his proximity to late PM Rajiv Gandhi. Former bureaucrat Wajahat Habibullah, who served in the PMOs of both Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, writes in his memoirs that Rajiv Gandhi appointed three parliamentary secretaries at a time — Oscar Fernandes, Ahmed Patel and his Doon school friend Arun Singh.

“The wags termed them Rajiv’s Amar, Akbar, Anthony,” Habibullah writes in “My Years with Rajiv”.

Oscar remained parliamentary secretary from December 1984 to June 1985. The experiment failed and by September 1985, Rajiv Gandhi had appointed IAS officer of the 1952 batch Sarla Grewal as secretary to PM. After Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, Oscar remained loyal to Sonia, who rewarded him generously.