Brij Lal's Biography of AD Patel

18 Fijian Studies Vol 13, No. 1 tory cannot be written without some bias and selective emphasis. The book well illustrates historian David Lowenthal’s dictum: ‘History is per- suasive because it is organised by and filtered through individual minds, not in spite of that fact. Subjective interpretation gives it life and mean- Brij Lal's Biography of A D Patel - A Vision for Change: ing’ (1985: 218). A.D. Patel and the Politics of Fiji Chapter 1, Retrospect, sketches the emergence of Indian society and politics in Fiji - the setting into which Patel stepped at the age of only 23 Robert Norton in 1928, soon to join the leadership of the campaign for political equality with the minority European community under a common roll electoral 3 system. The common franchise campaign was abandoned in the early A.D. Patel and Ratu Kamisese Mara were the outstanding political 1930s and not revived until the 1960s, this time with Patel in the lead. leaders and adversaries during Fiji’s transition from colonial rule to inde- Chapter 2, Child of Gujarat, is one of the most illuminating sections pendence. People who can recall the Fiji of the 1960s will have vivid of the book, describing aspects of life in Gujarat early last century which memories of Ambalal Dayhabhai Patel, Ratu Mara's resolute but not un- profoundly influenced Patel's outlook and dispositions. He was the pam- sympathetic opponent on the political stage. India-born Patel (1905-1969) pered first-born in a landed farming family of the Patidar group, the most was the leading advocate for the common franchise and the founding economically and politically powerful class in the Kheda district. After president of the National Federation Party (NFP)1. Rarely does a leader excelling in school, Patel's parents sent him to the UK for university stud- emerge with a combination of such intellectual power, vision, and ener- ies in preparation, they hoped, for a prestigious career in the Indian Civil getic resolve. The most formidable lawyer and debater in the Fiji of his Service. But in London the young man met the Anglo-Jewish lawyer day, Patel was a most eloquent exponent of his vision of an integrated Henry Polak who was championing the causes of overseas Indian popula- multi-ethnic nation and a tireless advocate for social and economic as tions. Polak was particularly concerned about Fiji and inspired Patel to go well as political reforms. He was an exceptionally forceful, charismatic there after completing his law degree, 'giving up what would certainly figure capable of mesmerising oratory before mass audiences. Yet in face have been a prosperous legal career and a prominent place in Indian pub- to face encounters disarmingly open and unassuming, to the surprise of lic life' (Lal 1997: 29). many visitors to Fiji who inferred from demonising press reports that he It was in Patel’s home district that Gandhi launched his campaign of must be a dangerous demagogue. peaceful resistance to British rule and the Patidars became famous sup- Lal's biography, recounting many aspects and episodes of Patel's porters of the movement. Patel, more than any other leader, brought the public life and career, is a most readable and stimulating book, with the spirit of the movement to Fiji. I vividly recall him launching the NFP’s qualities of engagement, clarity, eloquence, and well-argued discussion first election campaign before a packed audience in Suva’s old Century based on detailed research.2 Lal's deep admiration for Patel inevitably re- Theatre in 1966, quoting the poet Wordsworth's famous remark on the sulted in a rather idealised portrait. But then engaging and coherent his- French Revolution: 'Bliss it is to be alive at this dawn, but to be young is very heaven'. This had been Patel's own fortune when in his teens he ex- 1 perienced the beginning of Gandhi’s anti-colonial campaign at first hand. The party was launched in 1964 as the Federation Party, initially based on the federa- Throughout his life, Lal writes, Patel maintained a deep interest in India, tion of sugar cane farmers formed in 1960 for an industrial struggle with the Austra- lian CSR Company. The prefix ‘National’ was added after the party was joined by a especially Gandhian politics and philosophy. Twice in the 1940s he trav- small indigenous Fijian group, the National Democratic Party, late in 1968. For sim- elled to India to present Fiji Indian grievances to the Indian National plicity I will refer to the NFP throughout this paper. Congress, and he was at the forefront in the Fiji Indians’ celebrations of 2My discussion of Lal’s biography of Patel draws partly on my review published in The Contemporary Pacific 1998, 11(2): 484-87. 3 Indigenous Fijians were represented in the Legislative Council by nominees of the Council of Chiefs. Indian leaders did not include Fijians in their argument for a com- Fijian Studies Vol. 13 No. 1 © Fiji Institute of Applied Studies mon franchise until Fijians were enfranchised in 1963. 17 Brij Lal's Biography of A. D. Patel 19 20 Fijian Studies Vol 13, No. 1 India’s independence in 1947. He was a leading member of the Gujarati for the farmers in their conflicts with the Australian-owned Colonial Sug- community most of whose elders in the 1960s had come of age in India. ar Refining Company (CSR Co.) which treated them like serfs. The 'leverage of India' was important for Fiji Indian leaders as a Chapter 5, Flesh on the Skeleton, deals with Patel's first election to counter to the colonial government's favouritism to Indigenous Fijians the colonial Legislative Council in 1944 largely on the basis of his leader- and Europeans. However, after India's independence its leaders were less ship in the 1943 strike. In the Council debates, he focussed especially on willing to give support to radical leadership in the remaining colonies. By social reform issues - 'At the core of his vision was the call for an open, the late 1960s Patel had become embittered over this, once writing to his equitable and non-racial society'. There is also an excellent assessment of eldest son: 'Indians in Fiji and other colonies used to get some assistance the old controversy about the Indians and the Pacific War. Lal brings out from the Viceroy in their hour of need, but since India has become inde- very clearly the justice of their protest against service under conditions of pendent, we have received no help from India. From Indira downward, all racial inequality when the Government claimed the war was being waged are selfishly absorbed in the rat race for personal power and God help In- to secure peace, justice and freedom. He further demonstrates that irre- dia. In such circumstances it would be idiotic of us to expect any help spective of this protest neither the government nor the CSR Co. was keen from that corner' (Lal 1997: 239). to recruit Indians to the forces, partly because that would deplete labour Of course, India's influence on Patel was not merely political and for the sugar industry. secular. Patel was born into a family adhering to the Vaishanav tradition In Chapter 6, Interregnum, we learn about Patel's long sojourn in the of Hinduism. These devotees of Lord Vishnu were committed to sympa- political wilderness from 1950 to 1963 – due mainly, Lal argues, to his thising with 'the lower castes and classes' and to taking responsibility for rivalry with the then most senior Indian leader, Vishnu Deo, who in the practical action in support of their welfare and advancement. Patel ac- 1950s held the greatest organisational resources for a political career and quired a deep knowledge of religious literature and drew on it eclectically sat in the Executive Council, the inner sanctum of the colonial govern- to embellish his political speeches. In his work for the South Indians’ cul- ment. There were further reasons for Patel's temporary political eclipse, tural and educational body the TISI Sangam, based in Nadi where Patel such as the decline of India as a radical critic of colonial rule, and fac- lived, he was able to combine his passion for spiritual values with his tional splits within the Sangam and the South Indian farmers’ union, the commitment to social reform, giving particular attention to educational Maha Sangh. needs. And it was in this context, and in related work for the sugar cane Chapter 7, Fire in the Cane Fields, discusses Patel's return to public farmers' industrial struggles, that Swami Rudrananda of the Ramakrishna life, initially via leadership in the sugar cane farmers’ harvesting boycott Mission became his closest lifelong friend and confidante. against the CSR Co. in 1960. He had to be persuaded to join this leader- Chapter 3, Into the Fray, details the first phase of Patel's public ca- ship by Siddiq Koya and Swami Rudrananda. They later pressured him to reer in Fiji from 1928 to 1940 - his influence in the Sangam, his alliance resume his political career as the British began to prepare Fiji for self- with Swami Rudrananda, his involvement in the Fiji Indian Congress and government. the Indian Association of Fiji. Especially interesting is Lal's discussion of The last four chapters discuss Patel's actions in the 1960s, the dec- the factors that led Patel to rely so heavily on the South Indian commu- ade of decolonisation, particularly his leadership of the National Federa- nity for political support. These were his dissatisfaction with acrimonious tion Party (1964–1969) and his determined push for the introduction of a conflict within the North Indian Hindu community and between Hindus common franchise.

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