Rahul Ramagundam, Lecture on ‘The Life and Times of George Fernandes’

Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
invites you to a lecture
The Life and Times of George Fernandes
by Rahul Ramagundam
Chair: Nishikant Kolge
Thursday, 4 May 2023, 4.30 pm IST
Seminar Room and Zoom
Link: bit.ly/40yPFNJ
Meeting ID: 89362898942
Passcode: csdsdelhi
George Fernandes' (1930-2019) struggle against authoritarianism is legendary. Jailed many times, he was the last of socialists interested in reading and writing. He is remembered for having led the railway strike of May 1974 and going underground a year later during the national emergency. His chequered political career reached its executive pinnacle when he was made Defence Minister in the Vajpayee regime (1998-2004). Drawing from his private paper collection and supplemented by cross-country archival research and more than 200 oral interviews, the speaker published The Life and Times of George Fernandes in 2022 for which he received Book Writing Fellowship from New India Foundation in 2018. He shall speak on some of the themes from this book.
Rahul Ramagundam is Associate Professor at Jamia Millia Islamia. His books include The Life and Times of George Fernandes (2022), Gandhi’s Khadi: A History of Conciliation and Contention (2008), Including the Socially Excluded: India’s Experience with Caste, Gender and Poverty (2017) and Defeated Innocence: Adivasi assertion, Land Rights and the Ekta Parishad Movement (2001).
Nishikant Kolge is Associate Professor at Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi.