Cloak and Swagger

Leila Kabir and Jaya Jaitly are waging a battle of intrigue for George Fernandes’ political legacy

As George Fernandes’ exhilaration over his Rajya Sabha membership fades, the veteran socialist and former defence minister (under the NDA regime) appears to be caught in a crossfire raging between the two prominent women in his life—his estranged wife Leila Kabir Fernandes and his long-time companion Jaya Jaitly.

The two women have never been on good terms. But the protracted battle that began in March this year seems to have intensified in the last three weeks, stoked by an urgency to control the legacy of the infirm lion of the Emergency. The 79-year-old George Fernandes, ailing from an acute cognitive disorder, might not even be aware of the silent duel between Leila Kabir and Jaya Jaitly, and even if he is, the state of his mental and physical health is such that he can hardly do anything about the squabble.

Leila Kabir left for the US on 7 August, three days after the veteran socialist took oath to the Upper House of Parliament, with what one assumes was a sense of victory. She had overseen George Fernandes’ smooth election to the House despite stiff resistance put up by “some of his close associates” and thus struck another blow to her opponents.

According to sources, Leila Kabir has applied for a Rajya Sabha spouse card. This is the first time since the two decided to live separately in 1984 that Leila Kabir has sought such a parliamentary privilege for herself, although her husband has been an MP without a break since 1989. Her re-assertion as the politician’s wife comes soon after the apprehension she expressed a day before leaving for the US that The Other Side—a monthly journal considered the man’s mouthpiece—could be used to “damage” his current détente with JD-U leaders Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav, the two politicians that George Fernandes’ close political aides consider antagonistic to him. ‘The Other Side, the English variant of Pratipaksh that George and I launched in the mid-70s, is currently edited by one of his close aides. There is a regular column in it titled ‘From the Pen of George Fernandes’. It would be most unfortunate if an opinion is expressed in that column that could damage the current rapprochement between George and the JD-U,’ Leila Kabir said in a statement issued on 6 August.

This was not an unfounded fear. In the forthcoming issue of The Other Side, George Fernandes’ column (which purports to represent his views) seeks to portray the JD-U’s offer of a Rajya Sabha seat, which he readily accepted, not as a hatchet burial but as his own victory over ‘the very people who wanted me away from the people’.

“Thus instead of being positive about the growing harmony within the party, the fruits of which he did accept, ‘From the Pen of George Fernandes’ makes a mockery of the JD-U leadership’s current gesture,” said a member on the editorial board of the periodical. The particular column, as prepared for the forthcoming issue, reads, ‘All my life I have fought elections to the Lok Sabha to represent the people through their direct vote. That was what I wanted in March 2009 as well. Unfortunately, some people thought that by denying me the ticket they could get me out of politics forever.’ The draftsmanship seems designed to re-spark hostilities.

But who is George Fernandes’ ghost writer? Leila Kabir has not mentioned any name. But political circles have one in mind—Jaya Jaitly, who is the editor of the journal.

“Yes, I edit The Other Side,” she tells Open. And what about ‘From the Pen…’? “I write the column and then it is approved by him,” she says.

The above-mentioned editorial board member, however, is not so sure about the ‘approval’ part of the procedure. “Do you think George Fernandes can still understand the complexity of politics?” asks this person, who prefers anonymity, “How can he approve or disapprove a column which he cannot fathom? Since The Other Side’s November issue, he is neither writing nor approving or disapproving his column. All that is sought to be legitimised by Jaya Jaitly is done through the ‘Pen of George Fernandes’.”

But why has George Fernandes’ acceptance of JD-U’s offer of a Rajya Sabha seat become a flashpoint between Leila and Jaya? “The mutual distrust between Jaya and Nitish has reached a point of no return. Leila’s move to ensure George’s drift towards Nitish Kumar works against Jaya Jaitly. The reason is obvious—the loss of George would mean complete political isolation for her,” says a senior JD-U leader, adding, “It is her proximity to George that keeps Jaya politically relevant. She, therefore, has got to work against the present rapprochement between George and Nitish Kumar.”

According to sources, the battle royale between Leila and Jaya reached a head in March this year, when JD-U refused the veteran leader an election ticket on grounds of his poor health. But George Fernandes refused to take this lying down, and with Jaya as his lieutenant, he jumped into the electoral fray as an independent candidate from Muzaffarpur, Bihar.

That marked Leila Kabir’s first intervention. She lambasted his ‘close political aides’ for misleading him into the Lok Sabha fray. In a statement issued in March, Leila Kabir pleaded that her frail husband not be made to ‘enter the rough and tumble of an election campaign and undergo the strain of the hustings’.

In the event, George Fernandes lost the election, and he did so badly. Months later, his former party offered him an olive branch in the form of a Rajya Sabha seat, and he accepted it without a fuss. Some say the decision shocked his close aides. But on her part, Jaya Jaitly refuses to comment on his acceptance of the offer, saying, “It is his political decision. I am not a member of the JD-U. How can I comment on this?”
Ranged on the other side, Leila Kabir hints at a conspiracy behind this stance. ‘The world, however, is not aware of the concerted efforts made by George’s close political aides, since 2002, to create a serious rift in the relationship between George and JD-U,’ Leila said in her statement, issued a day before she left for the US, where she plans to stay with her son till mid-October.

The ageing politician’s ‘close political aides’, meanwhile, have started working overtime to win back lost ground. According to sources, merely days after Leila Kabir departed, they have struck back, sacking George Fernandes’ political secretary Rajesh Verma without giving him any notice. This man had been writing a biography of the leader, but was asked to quit office immediately and stop writing mid-way, sources say.

Why had Rajesh Verma become irksome to these political aides? He was suspected of conniving with those who persuaded George Fernandes to accept Nitish Kumar’s Rajya Sabha offer.

According to sources, Jaya Jaitly was miffed with him since he had allegedly helped the rapprochement effort by organising a high tea for all JD-U MPs on 6 August at George Fernandes’ Krishna Menon Marg residence in Delhi. It was here that the veteran socialist made up with Sharad Yadav, whose ascent to the post of JD-U president had spelt the end of his run in the party.

Rajesh Verma’s ouster may not be the last episode in this battle for George Fernandes’ legacy. Observers expect tempers to flare up again once Leila Kabir returns from the US. George Fernandes’ estranged wife is thought to be in touch with Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav, no strangers to inner-party intrigue themselves. Does the ageing leader himself have a clue? Unlikely. The fiery socialist who once brought trains to a halt is happy enough to have a seat in Parliament, presumably.

George FernandesJaya JaitlyLeila Kabirpolitics