Vishnu Deo

Infobox Politician (general)
name= Pandit Vishnu Deo


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title=
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title2= Member of Legislative Council (Fiji)
Southern Indian Division
term_start2= 1929, 1937
term_end2= 1959
predecessor2=K. B. Singh
successor2= B. D. Lakshman
title3=Member of Executive Council (Fiji)
term_start3=1956
term_end3=1959
predecessor3=James Madhavan
successor3=
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birth_date= 17 July 1900
birth_place= Navua, Fiji
death_date= 7 May 1968
death_place= Suva, Fiji
party=
residence= Suva, Fiji
spouse=
profession= Customs Agent, Editor
religion= Hindu (Arya Samaj)
footnotes=

Pandit Vishnu Deo OBE [cite book |last=Vidyalankar |first= Nardev|authorlink= |coauthors= Manohar Somera|title= Arya Samaj and Indians abroad|year=1975 |publisher=Sarvadeshik Arya Pratinidhi Sabha |location= New Delhi, India|isbn= | pages = p. 123] (17 July 1900 - 7 May 1968) was the first Fiji born and bred leader of the Fiji Indians. From 1929, when he was first elected to the Legislative Council, until his retirement in 1959, he remained the most powerful Fiji Indian political leader in Fiji. He was a staunch supporter of Arya Samaj in Fiji and also the editor of the first successful Hindi language newspaper to be published in Fiji.

His early life

Pandit Vishnu Deo was born on 17 July 1900. He attended Marist Brothers School and was gifted with a keen intellect and was a fluent debater in both English and Hindi. He joined the immigration department as a clerk in 1918, taught at a school established by M. N. Naidu in Lautoka in the early 1920s, [cite book| last = Sharma | first = Guru Dayal | title = Memories of Fiji: 1887 - 1987 | publisher =Guru Dayal Sharma, Suva, Fiji | year = 1987 | pages = p. 70] and started his own importing and exporting agency in 1927. In 1922, he had assisted the Raju Commission which had been sent to Fiji to make enquiries into the plight of the Indian community. [cite book| last = Sharma | first = Guru Dayal | title = Memories of Fiji: 1887 - 1987 | publisher =Guru Dayal Sharma, Suva, Fiji | year = 1987 | pages = p. 87] Vishnu Deo was the founder of a number of social and religious organisations. The Governor of Fiji proclaimed 15 May 1929 as a public holiday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the first Indians in Fiji but Vishnu Deo wanted this to be a day of mourning and at a meeting in Lautoka on 12 May 1929, it was decided to fast and pray on the day and to form the Fiji Indian National Congress. While there was an official ceremony and floats through Suva, Vishnu Deo and his associates displayed a black flag and burnt the indenture system in an effigy.

Fight for equal rights

After a sustained campaign by Fiji Indians for equal rights, they were allowed to elect three representatives on a communal roll. In October 1929, Vishnu Deo was elected to the Legislative Council, easily defeating John F. Grant in the Southern Constituency. Vishnu Deo was sworn into the Legislative Council on 25 October 1929 and on 5 November moved a motion calling for common roll franchise. The motion was defeated and he, together with the other two Fiji Indian members resigned. The strength of support for his policy by the Fiji Indians was demonstrated by no nomination being received when nominations were called later to fill the Legislative Council vacancies.

Second world war

During the Second World War, Vishnu Deo advised Fiji Indians to only enlist in the army if they were paid the same wages as Europeans. He was initially appointed to the Central Indian War Committee but had his membership of the Committee terminated when he published a serial record of a meeting of the Committee in his newspaper, the "Fiji Samachar". At the meeting most members had expressed the view that Indians could not be expected to enlist unless they were paid the same wages as Europeans. Later Deo, together with other Indian members of the Legislative Council, cooperated in recruiting volunteers for the Indian Civilian Labour Force. In June 1943 he addressed workers from the Ba and Lautoka sugar mills and persuaded some to join the Labour Force at better pay than what they were getting from their employer, the Colonial Sugar Refining Company. [cite book |last=Gillion |first=Kenneth |authorlink= |coauthors= |title= The Fiji Indians: Challenge to European Dominance 1920-1946|year= 1977|publisher= Australian Nayional University Press|location= Canberra, Australia|isbn= 0-7081-1291-9 | pages= pp. 178-179]

Religious activities

Vishnu Deo was a leader of Arya Samaj in Fiji. He took a proactive role in propagating the teachings of Swami Dayanand, some of which were the establishment of a castless society, education for girls, an end to child marriage and re-marriage for widows. He soon found himself at loggerheads with other religious groups, who for the first time had to deal with a Hindu society aggressively promoting re-conversion to Hinduism. He participated in public debates and during one of these debates published material for which he was convicted and fined. He was the editor of the Hindi language newspaper, "Fiji Samachar", which was regarded as the mouthpiece of the Arya Samaj in Fiji.

Political leader

He was ineligible to contest the 1932 election for his earlier conviction, but from 1937 to 1959 won the Southern Indian Division [cite web |url=http://au.geocities.com/girmitya/FijiElections/1929/SouthDiv.htm|title= Fiji Legislative Council Elections, Southern Division, 1929 - 1959|accessdate=2007-06-10] seven times. During his early political career he worked closely with the other champion of common roll in Fiji, A.D. Patel. They did not have the same view on all issues, for example, Vishnu Deo supported education in Hindi for Fiji Indians whereas A.D. Patel wanted the regional Indian languages taught in schools for Fiji Indians. As Vishnu Deo was based in the Southern Division and A.D. Patel in the Western Division there was no competition between the two until it was decided to nominate an Indian into the Executive Council in 1948. Both Indian leaders believed that they deserved the honour but Patel managed to outmeanouvre Vishnu Deo and gain the support of three out of the five Indian members of the Legislative Council to become the Indian Member of the Executive Council. At the next election, Vishnu Deo had his revenge when a candidate supported by him (Tulsi Ram Sharma) easily defeated A.D. Patel. In fact, A.D. Patel was kept out of the Legislative Council for as long as Vishnu Deo remained politically active.

After the 1950 Legislative Council elections, James Madhavan was chosen as the Indian member in the Executive Council. Vishnu Deo had to wait until 1956 before he finally joined the Executive Council.

Cane farmers' leader

When negotiations began for the 1950 cane contract and there was a split among the Rewa farmers, Vishnu Deo stepped in to provide a unified voice for these farmers. Ironically, this created a further rift between himself and A.D. Patel, because he supported A.D. Patel's life-long opponent, Ayodhya Prasad, in the ensuing cane dispute.

Later years

During his final years of public service, Deo no longer displayed his firebrand characteristics of the 1920s and 1930s, but had mellowed and was loved and respected by all sections of Fiji's population.

When Radio Fiji started broadcasting in July 1954 the first Hindi voice heard over the air in Fiji was that of Vishnu Deo, who presented the inaugural address. [J.S. Kanwal, A Hundred Years of Hindi in Fiji, Fij Teachers' Union, Fiji, 1980] He had been appointed to the Commission in March 1954, following the death of Ami Chandra. [cite book| last = Sharma | first = Guru Dayal | title = Memories of Fiji: 1887 - 1987 | publisher =Guru Dayal Sharma, Suva, Fiji | year = 1987 | pages = p. 157]

On 14 September 1956 Pundit Vishnu Deo was appointed to the Executive Council. In the selection of Vishnu Deo, the Indian members displayed remarkable unity as reported by the Fiji Times (10/10/1956):

The appointment of Mr. Pdt. Vishnu Deo to the Executive Council was unanimously endorsed at a meeting of the five Indian Legislative Council members held at Nausori during the weekend. This is believed to be the first time in Fiji when all Legislative Council members of any race combined together to support the candidature of one of their own members into the Executive Council.

In November 1958, in his speech to welcome the new Governor, Sir Kenneth Maddocks, he again displayed a conciliatory approach and said:

I assure you Sir, that we will at all times co-operate with you in this Council and outside the Council on all matters that are for the welfare of the Colony and every section of the community.

During the same sitting of the Legislative Council, H. B. Gibson, European member for Eastern Division, pointed out that although the rules of the Legislative Council made him the Senior Member, the Father of the House - both by length of service and by age - was Mr Vishnu Deo. [ cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Members welcome Governor |url= |work= |publisher= Fiji Times|date= 22 November 1958|accessdate=2007-09-25 ]

His legacy

Vishnu Deo died on 7 May 1968 but his contribution to the Fiji Indians can be seen by the number of schools and roads named after him. Some of these are:
* Vishnu Deo Road located at Nasinu 9 ½ Miles and is the main trunk road to the newly developed suburb of Nakasi.
* Vishnu Deo Secondary School located between Lautoka and Nadi and is also the site of the University of Fiji.
* Vishnu Deo Primary School, located in Raiwaga, Suva, was one of the first multi-racial schools established in Fiji

See also

* Arya Samaj in Fiji
* "Fiji Samachar"

References