A huge controversy confronted George Fernandes at a time when he began to lose memory and he slowly became a victim of dementia. What happened at his residence at 3 Krishna Menon Marg in New Delhi was reminiscent of the row during BSP founder Kanshiram’s final days. If it was between Kanshiram’s relatives and his associate Mayawati over the custody of the Dalit leader, the spat in Fernandes' case was between his wife and friends.
Fernandes, who was estranged from wife Leila Kabir, was closer to party associate Jaya Jaitly. When he fell sick, Leila took up his care with a court order. She disallowed Jaya from meeting Fernandes, creating many dramatic events in front of his house. The issue reached the Supreme Court in 2012, when Jaya was granted permission to meet Fernandes – for 15 minutes every 15 days. She was asked not to touch him for fear of infection and not to get involved in his medical needs.
Fernandes’s properties worth Rs 25 crore are said to be the reason for the tension between family members and friends.
Fernandes married the daughter of former central minister Humayun Kabir in 1971. They separated after 13 years. Leila left him in 1984 but never got officially separated. The name of spouse in his official documents always remained that of Leila’s. Decades later when Fernandes became Rajya Sabha member, he insisted Leila be next to him. Leila had returned. It also saw Jaya and other Samata Party members falling out of favour.
But Fernandes’s brothers alleged Leila returned after almost 25 years to stake claim to his wealth. Leila alleged the same about them, saying the brothers who lived outside Delhi never visited Fernandes.
Now that Fernandes is no more, the controversy around him may die out soon.
