Former Defence Minister George Fernandes passes away at age 88 in New Delhi

Former Defence Minister George Fernandes has passed away at the age of 88 in New Delhi at 7.00 am on Tuesday morning.

He was dealing with Alzheimer's disease. 

He had last worked as the Member of Parliament between August 2009 and July 2010. He has held several ministerial portfolios which included communications, industry, railways, and defence. He was the only Christian minister in Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's cabinet.

He belonged from Mangalore. He was born June 3 in 1930. He was the founder of the Samata Party. He was an important member of the Janata Dal. 

Here are the Positions Held:

• He was the member of Fourth Lok Sabha between 1967-70
• He was the General Secretary of the Samyukta Socialist Party during 1969-73
• He was the All India Railwaymen's Federation President between 1973-77 
• Fernandes was once again elected as MP in the Sixth Lok Sabha between 1977-79. This was his 2nd term as lawmaker of the lower house.
• He was made the Union Cabinet Minister, Communications between March-July in 1977 and the Union Cabinet Minister, Industry during 1977-79
• He was elected as a Member of the Seventh Lok Sabha for the 3rd time between 1980-84 
• He was elected again in the next elections for the Ninth Lok Sabha.
• He was made the Union Cabinet Minister, Railways between 1989-90
• He was made the Minister of Kashmir Affairs (Additional charge) for the term between March-May 1990
• He was elected as the Member of the Tenth Lok Sabha for the 5th time in 1991.
• From 1994 onwards he was the President of the Samata Party in 1996 
• He was elected the Member of the Eleventh Lok Sabha for the 6th time
• He was elected again for the 7th term and was the Member between 1998-99 of the Twelfth Lok Sabha
• He was again elected as the Member of the Thirteenth Lok Sabha 
• He was made the Union Cabinet Minister, Defence between October 15 2001-May 2004
• He was elected in the Fourteenth Lok Sabha (9th term) for the years 2004-2009
• He was made the Rajya Sabha Member between Aug. 2009 – July 2010 

Tributes for the former Defence Minister were sent by many in the political spectrum:

PM Narendra Modi addressing the Samata Party leader as George Sahab gave a glowing tribute to him: 

Amit Shah expressed his pain about George Fernandes''demise:

Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad called him an icon of socialist movement:

The Congress has also tweeted about his passing:

Congress leader Priyanka Chaturvedi has also tweeted about him: