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Children of Indus: Chaudhry Restoring Dignity to Girmitiya Descendants

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Children of Indus: Chaudhry Restoring Dignity to Girmitiya Descendants 110 Fijian Studies Vol 13, No. 1 ences of the NFP in the sugar sector. Chaudhry attempted to break the cy- cle of debt for Indo-Fijian sugar cane farmers and supported the rights of every day Fijian workers so that they could get reasonable wages. He proposed mechanisms to fight against the economic exploitation of work- Children of Indus: Chaudhry Restoring Dignity to Girmitiya ers by local businesses and overseas companies allied to the Fijian Alli- Descendants and Challenging Race Politics ance government. The rise of Chaudhry as a political force in Fiji is documented in the book, Children of the Indus, written and published by the NFU in 2004. Sanjay Ramesh The foreword provides the motivations for the book: 'It aims to pro- vide the average reader with an outline history of our people, with par- ticular focus on the struggles of the cane farming community to secure Introduction their future and that of their children in the land of their adoption'. For the NFU as the author of Children of Indus, the present day struggles of Indi- The Fiji Labour Party (FLP) was formed in 1985 to promote social ans in Fiji, particularly the cane farming community, is one which is led democracy in a Pacific island nation preoccupied and obsessed with eth- by the NFU and its leader Mahendra Chaudhry. The book is about this nic politics since independence from Great Britain in 1970. Following in- journey, of thought processes and activities, of Mahendra Chaudhry. In dependence, the chief-led Alliance Party, largely with the assistance of other words, the book is about the making of Mahendra Chaudhry as the colonial authorities, established its grip on political power, which was champion of the rights of the descendants of girmitiyas. challenged by indigenous Fijian nationalist Sekeasi Butadroka, causing an electoral upset in the April 1977 general elections allowing the Indo- Fijian National Federation Party (NFP), to win government. Sitiveni Contextualising Mahendra Chaudhry in Indo-Fijian History Rabuka, then an upcoming senior officer in the Fiji Military Forces con- templated overthrowing the elected government if the NFP took office Chaudhry's vision was to restore Indo-Fijian dignity that was and suggested reinstalling the chiefs but the Governor General of Fiji harmed by the colonial government, Alliance Party and the two racist Ratu Sir George Cakobau fulfilled Rabuka’s wishes to some extent and military coups (1987, 2000). The colonial government saw Indo-Fijians intervened to re-establish the political hegemony of the chiefs by appoint- as economic exploitable units, destined to serve the colonial masters in ing Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara as interim Prime Minister to lead a minority clearing land and assisting in the sugar plantation enterprise of the Colo- government. The political setup of Fiji after independence was three-way nial Sugar Refinery (CSR). Indigenous land was made readily available collaboration between indigenous Fijian chiefs, Indo-Fijians, and Europe- for commercial sugar cane farming because indigenous Fijian chiefs sup- ans. However, the three-legged approach of the Alliance Party chiefs was ported the economic vision of their colonial allies. The revenues from the seen as ‘tokenism’ by the Indo-Fijian population and in particular by sugar industry were for the Empire and the Commonwealth. Proceeds of Mahendra Chaudhry who was the secretary of the Fiji Public Service As- subsidised cane payments were appropriated by the CSR while the Indo- sociation (FPSA) and the National Farmers Union (NFU), two large un- Fijian labourers continued to languish at the bottom of the socio- ion bodies in post-independence Fiji. Chaudhry was an avid champion of economic ladder (pp. 55-56). workers and farmer rights and was instrumental in highlighting the politi- Chaudhry knew his history and in particular how dependent devel- cal and economic exploitation of the Alliance Party. He was a strong opment led to the exploitation of both workers and farmers. Indo-Fijian critic of race politics that defined Fijian political face. He established the and indigenous Fijian public servants were paid less than their European National Farmers Union in the early 1980s to counter the political influ- counterparts because of inherent racist Anglo-Celtic white system and at- tempts by Indo-Fijian cane farmers for a decent cane payment were sub- jected to various forms of political sanctions (Kelly, 1988: 404). Indo- Fijian Studies Vol. 13 No. 1 © Fiji Institute of Applied Studies Fijian leaders, mostly from the Indian subcontinent, started in the 1930s 109 Children of Indus 111 112 Fijian Studies Vol 13, No. 1 (Kelly 1991) their own campaign to organise Indo-Fijian farmers. The across the traditional race-oriented power base of the two major Fiji Kisan Sangh was the first such organisation. Led by Ayodhya Prasad political parties (p. 38). and B.D. Lachman, it secretly organised a powerful farmer’s union. Other Indo-Fijian leaders, A.D. Patel and Swami Rudranand, however, moti- Behind the scenes, Mahendra Chaudhry continued to exert influence vated by their own political agendas, formed the rival Maha Sangh and over the party as a trade unionist. Chaudhry, from the Western Viti Levu led the 1941 cane strike, which was considered ‘unpatriotic’ by many in- province of Ba, aimed to be a champion of Indo-Fijian and indigenous Fi- digenous Fijians and the colonial government (pp. 63-75). Following the jian worker rights. According to him, these rights could only be estab- strike, the Kisan Sangh was considerably weakened and lost the support lished by political and economic equality, enshrined in an acceptable con- of the majority of Indo-Fijian cane farmers (p. 75). stitution. Some of his critics saw Chaudhry as a left-leaning socialist, in- Chaudhry saw the divisions of past Indo-Fijian leadership as a tes- fluenced by ideology of organised labour and nationalisation of strategic tament of endemic Indo-Fijian political failures. He sought to provide a assets. The Alliance Party attempted to undermine him by restricting his different more robust leadership, premised on equality and restoration of union involvement. The 'anti-Chaudhry initiatives' of the Alliance Party dignity to the Indo-Fijian community and to all workers in Fiji. There failed when FLP candidate, Bob Kumar, won the Suva City Council elec- were lessons to be learnt from the past and in particular from Maha tions in 1985. The FLP and its NFP coalition partners ousted the Alliance Sangh’s strategies to undermine Kisan Sangh and the NFP’s push for in- Party from power in the 1987 general elections. Key portfolios in the dependence in the 1960s and its role in opposition from 1970 to 1987 1987 coalition government went to Harish Sharma as Deputy Prime Min- (pp.129-134). This played a significant role in shaping Chaudhry’s politi- ister, Jai Ram Reddy, brought in through the Senate was appointed Attor- cal views. By the early 1980s, Chaudhry was disenchanted with both NFP ney General, and Mahendra Chaudhry, Finance Minister. Bavadra kept leaders, Siddiq Koya and Jai Ram Reddy, and went on to form the NFU for himself the Public Service and Fijian Affairs portfolios, and Lands to break NFP domination of the sugar belt. Chaudhry who was also the went to Mosese Volavola, Joeli Kalou was Labour Minister, Krishna leader of the powerful Fiji Public Service Association also championed Datt, Foreign Affairs Minister and Tupeni Baba, Minister for Education workers’ rights, in particular the rights of public servants. Following a se- (p. 141). Immediately after, a group from the Alliance Party formed the ries of austerity measures by the Alliance in 1984, the trade union move- infamous Taukei Movement to undermine the multiracial coalition gov- ment banded together to launch a new multiracial political party. ernment. Led by mainly unsuccessful Alliance Party stalwarts, the Taukei Movement held noisy demonstrations in Suva, calling for the restoration The Rise of the Fiji Labour Party of indigenous Fijian rights (p.143). The coalition believed that the Taukei Movement demonstrations were isolated incidents but Sitiveni Rabuka On 6 July 1985, the Fiji Labour Party (FLP) was launched ‘at an in- had other plans. On 14 May 1987, Rabuka deposed the government in augural meeting held at the Fijian Teachers Association hall in Knollys Fiji’s first bloodless coup. In this, he has the support of a faction from the Street in Suva. Apart from unionists, civil servants and workers in gen- Methodist Church, members of the Alliance Party, the Great Council of eral, it attracted support from a wide circle of left-leaning academics at Chiefs, indigenous nationalists in the state bureaucracy and the Taukei the University of the South Pacific’ (p. 138). Led by charismatic indige- Movement. nous Fijian doctor and President of the party, Dr. Timoci Bavadra, the The May 14 coup had devastating economic and social conse- party struck a chord with many urban workers and posed a serious chal- quences. Backlash 'came from Australian and New Zealand trade unions lenge to the Alliance Party and the NFP. According to the NFU: and the cane farmers’ (p. 150). Chaudhry and the NFU were instrumental The new Labour Party challenged the existing political status in organising sugar cane harvest boycott in June 1987. Indo-Fijians, con- quo. With considerable prescience, both Ratu Mara's Alliance cerned about their future, fled the island state in large numbers as ‘Aus- government and the NFP saw it as a threat. Its socialist mani- tralia, New Zealand and Canada initially opened their doors to these refu- festo, promising wide reaching social reforms, a clean and open gees’ (p. 151). By September 1987, there were signs of hope as the Gov- government found ready acceptance among the masses, cutting ernor General attempted to bring together both the Alliance Party and the coalition in a government of national unity.
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