- C. A. Shah
Infobox Politician (general)
name= Chirag Ali Shah
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title= Member of Legislative Council (Fiji)
Indian nominated member
term_start= 1963
term_end= 1966
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successor=
title2= Member for Tavua - Rakiraki Indian Communal Constituency
term_start2= 1966
term_end2= 1972
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term_end3=
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term_start4=
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profession= Farmer
religion= Muslim
footnotes=Chirag Ali Shah was a
Fiji Indian farmer and politician, who served in the Legislative Council both as a nominated and an elected member.Since 1937, the Government of
Fiji had followed a policy of nominating aMuslim to one of the two seats reserved for nominatedIndia n members in the Legislative Council. In 1963, although a Muslim,Sidiq Koya , was elected, the Government continued with its policy and nominated Ra farmer, Shah, also a Muslim, to the Legislative Council. In the past, those nominated by the Governor had tended to be pro-Government but Shah aligned himself with the group opposed to Government policies. This group, known as theCitizens Federation , and including farmers union representativesA. D. Patel ,S. M. Koya andJames Madhavan , later formed the first political party inFiji , theFederation Party .Shah's inclusion in the new political party provided diversity to the hierarchy of the party which was dominated by lawyers, businessmen and academics. He took part in the 1965 Constitutional Conference in
London with his other colleagues in the Federation Party. In the 1966 elections he won the Tavua/Ra seat for the Federation Party in a three-way contest with 58% of the vote. He had a tougher fight in the 1968 by-election when his opponent was a former member of the Federation Party in the Legislative Council (who had defected to the Alliance Party) and lawyer, M.T. Khan, but again he won with grass-roots support.
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