Emergency history: The arrest of socialist leader George Fernandes, and those who defended him

Leila Kabir Fernandes, the wife of the firebrand trade unionist and a top socialist leader George Fernandes, was at a total loss after her husband had vanished from Gopalpur-on-sea in Orissa, immediately after the Emergency was declared. The couple were holidaying with Sushanto, their toddler son, at Leila’s family home when George had to leave to avoid arrest. He had not always been present and available in the marriage and the Emergency had forced a new, yet familiar loneliness on Leila. George went underground and remained undiscovered for nearly a year. When he was betrayed and finally caught, and was in a solitary cell at the Hissar prison, he reflected that the longest period he had spent with his wife, “uninterruptedly”, was during the four months in 1972, when they toured the US and Canada, meeting friends and extended family.

When Leila returned to “ominous” Delhi after George had escaped, she realised that the only option left for her was to leave India. She feared that if she stayed back, they would imprison her and that would leave their son alone. Her husband was a high-value target; he was to become the “most-hunted man” in India’s democratic history, and hence her fears...

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