George had a shadow name: David. For taking on the Goliaths of his time, right from the 1950s and 1960s. The Bombay strongman SK Patil was among the early ‘giants’ he locked horns with.
But his fights were not with human Goliaths as much as with forces like the power of money and the tyranny of monopolies. If ever there was a social democrat by instinct, training and practice, George Fernandes was him. Equality and fairness were for him not goals 'out there' but values for the here and the right now.
But a cloud of mystery hung over his honest head, for he kept his associations with possible comrades, potential colleagues and putative supporters to himself, one not knowing too much about the other. Also, because he always knew more than he revealed, saw more than he reflected. He had more to say, to write about than he chose ever to put into words.