George Fernandes last rites will be performed in Delhi

New Delhi: The last rituals of the former defence minister, George Mathew Fernandes will be held on Wednesday in Delhi, at Lodhi road funeral ground. As per his will after his cremation his ashes will be buried in the ground, told his close ally Jaya Jaitly.

The former Samata Party president Jaya Jaitly, said, "Social activist and former Samata Party President Jaya Jaitley on George Fernandes: He had expressed his wished earlier to be cremated but during his last days, he said he wanted to be buried. So, we will cremate the body and bury the ashes, to fulfill both his wishes."

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His last rites will be held after his son Sean Fernandes, arrives from US. At present, the body is being embalmed.

The anti-Emergency battler George passed away, on Tuesday at the age of 88, while fighting the deadly Swine flu infection, he was also withdrawn from public life over the past decade due to Alzheimer’s, according to sources.

Born on June 3, 1930, George Fernandes not only served India as a defence minister but was also an Indian trade unionist, politician, journalist, agriculturist and member of Rajya Sabha from Bihar.

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He was a key member of the Janata Dal Party, headed by Morarji Desai and was the founder of the Samata Party.

Fernandes rose to fame as an anti-Emergency crusader and challenged the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for imposing a state of emergency, but in 1976 he was arrested and tried in the infamous Baroda dynamite case.

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