George Fernandes

LK Advani

Sharad Yadav

Leila Kabir

Former Defence Ministerturned 88 on Sunday (June 3) and his supporters made it a point to celebrate his birthday in a grand way. They booked a convention hall, organised a national seminar, launched a website in his name and cut a cake weighing 88 kilos on Sunday.Veteran leadersand, and socialist associates of the former Defence Minister such as Uttam Gade and Aruna Deshpande gathered in the evening at the Panchsheel Marg residence with his wifefor a quiet celebration and formal launch of the website. Most leaders were also seen talking about Fernandes' wife, Leila Kabir and the way she has been taking care of him.Former Governor of Mizoram Swaraj Kaushal tweeted, "I met George Fernandes this evening. Thank you Leila. She is taking good care of him. The Lion is confined to bed, unmindful of the visitors and just breathing. Sadly, the roar is missing."Leila never minded any request from Socialist leaders to meet the former Defence Minister.In fact, Lok Sabha MP from Bihar, Dr Arun Kumar (Rashtriya Lok Samata Party), who organised the day-long programme in Delhi, praised Leila Kabir's easy-going spirit to Mirror.Sources said that Jaya Jaitley, who once secured permission from the courts to visit George Fernandes, has more or less stopped visiting him after a property matter was sorted out.Unfortunately, the ailing birthday boy, reportedly battling Parkinson's Disease, was blissfully unaware of the celebrations. The question that comes to mind is that if Fernandes was indisposed, what was the need for Dr Arun Kumar to go ahead with the day-long functions? Does the celebration have more to do with his own faction fight within RLSP ahead of Lok Sabha elections? The other RLSP faction with two MLAs is headed by Upendra Khushwaha and he is a minister in the Union Government. He had invited Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Suresh Prabhu to the celebrations."For George Fernandes is not an individual, he is a philosophy. We have always celebrated George saab's birthday. Including Rajnathji's name was a mistake. Suresh Prabhu had promised to participate but could not make it. We decided to go for a big splash as people from all over the country wanted to celebrate it," he said.