Kisan Sangh was the first farmers' union formed in Fiji on 27 November 1937. This was the result of one man's determination to improve the plight of Fiji's Indian cane farmers. Ayodhya Prasad had arrived from India in 1929, and after a stint as a teacher took up cane farming and thus obtained firsthand experience of the problems faced by Fiji Indian cane farmers.
Arundo is a genus of stout, perennial plants in the grass family.
Ayodhya Prasad Sharma, 30 April 1909 – 28 February 1972) was an Indo-Fijian farmers' leader and politician, who formed the most successful farmers' union in Fiji and forced the Colonial Sugar Refining Company to make concessions to farmers after 60 years of total control over Fiji's economy. However, other Indo-Fijian leaders formed rival unions and his initial success was not repeated.
Well aware that there was great fear amongst the Fiji Indian cane farmers of the Colonial Sugar Refining Company, he started organising the farmers union in secret and concentrated among the young members of the community because they were more passionate and were unlikely to be owners or lessees of property. At first, Ayodhya Prasad held meetings in secret but by 27 November 1937, he had enough support to hold a public meeting in Wailailai, Ba, to form the Kisan Sangh (Farmers' Union). The first task for the new Union was to find an existing Fiji Indian to take up leadership of the new union. A number of people which included A. D. Patel, S. B. Patel and Swami Rudrananda, Chattur Singh and Vishnu Deo were approached, but all declined the invitation. Undeterred, Ayodhya Prasad decided that the best solution was to learn from Mahatma Gandhi and live amongst the farmers while he preached the virtues of the Union to them. He decided to set up tents on Company land in different settlements so that he and his helpers could preach from it. On 18 May 1938, with the help of his young volunteers, he set up on Company land starting from Nadroga which was at the Southern end of the North Western cane growing area of Viti Levu and moving along the coast to the Northern end of Viti Levu. Initially none of the local farmers approached the tent but as the farmers saw the sacrifice being made by Ayodhya Prasad and his young volunteers and the inability of the Company overseers to stop him, they gradually started to join up. Following the success of this grass-roots campaign, Ayodhya Prasad spent the next four months organising the Sangh. First village committees were formed. These committees then met and formed district committees which selected members for the Central Committee based on the membership of the district committee. There were six district committees.
The Colonial Sugar Refining Company (CSR) began operations in Fiji in 1880 and until it ceased operations in 1973, had a considerable influence on the political and economic life of Fiji. Prior to its expansion to Fiji, the CSR was operating Sugar Refineries in Melbourne and Auckland. The decision to enter into the production of raw sugar and sugar cane plantation was due to the Company's desire to shield itself from fluctuations in the price of raw sugar needed to run its refining operations. In May 1880 Fiji's Colonial Secretary John Bates Thurston persuaded the Colonial Sugar Refining Company to extend their operations into Fiji by making available 2,000 acres (8 km²) of land to establish plantations.
Ba is a district situated on the north western part of the island of Viti Levu in Fiji. The name Ba is also used for a province, a tikina, a town and a river. Ba district comprises the areas surrounding Ba Town and includes the Fijian administrative tikinas of Ba and Magodro. Ba district is in the Western Division. Ba is a sugar cane growing district and sugar cane farming and employment in the Ba Sugar Mill are the main areas of employment. Some 80 percent of the residents of Ba District are of Indian origin. The Ba District soccer team is the most successful soccer team in Fiji.
Ambalal Dahyabhai Patel, better known as A.D. Patel (1905–1969), was a Fiji Indian politician, farmers' leader and founder and leader of the National Federation Party. Patel was uncompromisingly committed to a vision of an independent Fiji, with full racial integration. He was one of the first to advocate a republic, an ideal not realized in his lifetime. He also advocated a common voters' roll and opposed the communal franchise that characterized Fijian politics.
Attempts to negotiate with the Company
On 5 February 1939, 36 members of the central board of the Kisan Sangh met at the residence of Mohammed Twahir Khan in Lautoka. Mohammed Twahir Khan was unanimously elected the President. Ayodhya Prasad was elected the Secretary. An office was set up in Mr Khan's residence and a letter written to the Company asking for the following:
Lautoka is the second largest city of Fiji. It is in the west of the island of Viti Levu, 24 kilometres north of Nadi and port of entry in Fiji, after Suva. Lying in the heart of Fiji's sugar cane-growing region, it is known as the Sugar City. Covering an area of 16 square kilometres, it had a population of 52,220 at the 2007 census, the most recent to date.
The farmers be allowed to keep the second ratoon crop.
The Company provide a statement with its payment.
The Company allow the Kisan Sangh’s representative to check the weighing of cane.
The price of cane not be based on sugar content, but on tonnage.
The Company not force farmers to work on the train line and to cut its cane.
The Company and Kisan Sangh meet and draw up a contract for the sale of cane to the Company.
The Company provide lease on its land in a legal way and each block of land not be less than 16 acres (65,000m2).
The Company allow the farmers to plant rice.
When the Company refused to negotiate with the Kisan Sangh, a deputation met the Governor and informed him of the farmers' plight.
Taking control of cane harvesting
The Kisan Sangh put up candidates as Sardar for each of the cane-cutting gangs. Out of a total of 110 gangs in the North Western district, Kisan Sangh's candidates were elected in 85. The Kisan Sangh supporting Sardars refused to send farmers to work in the Sugar Mills. The Kisan Sangh Sardars also informed the Company's overseers that its members will not clear weeds from the Company's train lines. Soon more evidence emerged that the Government had put pressure on the Company to change the way in which it behaved towards to farmers. When the first cane payment was made by the Company, the farmers were also provided with a written account stating the rate at which they had been paid and the amount of deductions. The Company also opened a school for its overseers where they were taught to speak Hindi and the proper manner of communicating with farmers.
Campaign for cane contract
At end of the 1939 cane-cutting season, the Kisan Sangh decided to press for a firm contract for the sale of cane to the CSR Company. At a meeting of farmers from all districts in Lautoka it was unanimously decided not to plant cane until the Company had agreed to a contract. The meeting specifically asked for a 10-year contract, that the price of cane not be based on sugar content, and the price of cane be 16 shillings and six pence as long as the price of sugar remained below 10 dollars per ton and any income more than 10 pounds be shared equally between the Company and the farmers.
When the Company refused to negotiate, Ayodhya Prasad and other Kisan Sangh leaders then concentrated on working amongst the farmers to ensure that the farmers did not plant cane and instead planted Rice, Corn and Peas, confident that if the farmers stuck together, the Government would pressure the Company to act since the strike would have a devastating effect on Fiji's economy.
On 17 January 1940, the Company unilaterally produced a contract and the Company overseers started approaching the farmers to sign it. The contract met some of the demands of the Kisan Sangh. On 27 January, a deputation from the Sangh met the Governor. The Governor advised that since the Company had taken out a contract, the farmers should start planting cane. On 30 January, at a large public meeting in Lautoka the Kisan Sangh advised the farmers to start planting the cane but not to sign the contract.
Finally the Company agreed to meet the farmers (but not as Kisan Sangh representatives). On 6 April 1940, representatives of the Kisan Sangh met the Company's inspector and the Mill Manager at Rarawai Mill in Ba. E.F. Smith (the Company Inspector) explained the contents of the Company offered contract and offered not to implement some of the strict conditions of the contract.
Formation of rival farmers' union
In June 1940, news was received of the setting up of a rival farmers' union by A.D. Patel and Swami Rudrananda. The Central Committee of the Kisan Sangh met and decided that members of the Sangh would attend the inaugural meeting of the Maha Sangh and oppose its inception. At 2:00p.m. on 15 June, a big crowd of Sangh members gathered in the grounds of Nadi Sangam School. While the meeting for the establishment of Maha Sangh was taking place inside the school, Kisan Sangh members held their own meeting in the grounds and opposed the setting up of a second union but Police had been warned beforehand and Sangh leaders were arrested for not dispersing.
Akhil Fiji Krishak Maha Sangh was a sugar cane farmers' union formed on 15 June 1941 in opposition to the existing union, the Kisan Sangh. Supporters of Kisan Sangh tried to stop the formation of the Maha Sangh but were unsuccessful. The people responsible for the formation of a second sugar cane farmers' union were A. D. Patel and Swami Rudrananda. The union was supported by the South Indian sugar cane farmers in Fiji.
Nadi is the third-largest conurbation in Fiji. It is located on the western side of the main island of Viti Levu, and had a population of 42,284 at the most recent census, in 2007. A 2012 estimate showed that the population had grown to over 50,000. Nadi is multiracial with many of its inhabitants Indian or Fijian, along with a large transient population of foreign tourists. Along with sugar cane production, tourism is a mainstay of the local economy.
During July, A.D. Patel and Swami Rudrananda started holding meetings to promote their union. Those farmers that had been hired by the Company to campaign against the Kisan Sangh during the strike of 1940 joined the Maha Sangh. The former Sardars removed by Kisan Sangh also joined the new union. Under the influence of Swami Rudrananda, who was himself a South Indian, all but a handful of South Indian farmers who had been members of the Kisan Sangh now joined the Maha Sangh.
In 1943, some executive members of the Kisan Sangh supported the Maha Sangh in a strike for a new contract, despite the fact that the contract signed by farmers in 1940 was for a period of ten years. Ignoring pleas from Ayodhya Prasad, farmers did not start harvesting on time and lost thousands of dollars. In the meantime, efforts by the Government to restrict the movement of A.D. Patel only increased his support while the Kisan Sangh was badly split.
Rebuilding the Kisan Sangh
It took Ayodhya Prasad until 1950 to rebuild the Kisan Sangh so that it was again the largest farmers' organisation in Fiji with support extending to the northern cane farming areas in Vanua Levu and a new farmers' union allied to the Kisan Sangh active in the Rewa area. He also managed to force the Colonial Sugar Refining Company (CSR) to agree a new 10-year contract in 1950 which gave further increases to the price of sugar cane.
Vanua Levu, formerly known as Sandalwood Island, is the second largest island of Fiji. Located 64 kilometres to the north of the larger Viti Levu, the island has an area of 5,587.1 square kilometres (2,157.2 sq mi) and a population of 135,961 as of 2007.
Rewa is a province of Fiji. With a land area of 272 square kilometers, it includes the capital city of Suva and is in two parts — one including part of Suva's hinterland to the west and a noncontiguous area to the east, separated from the rest of Rewa by Naitasiri Province. The province had a population of 108,016 at the 2017 census, making it Fiji's third most populous.
In 1959, Kisan Sangh joined a united cane growers' organisation, known as the Federation of Cane Growers, to negotiate the next ten-year contract. Differences again rose between the Kisan Sangh and Maha Sangh supporters resulting in Kisan Sangh's supporters signing the new cane contract, while A.D. Patel's supporters went on strike. The Kisan Sangh was blamed for the failure of the farmers to get a good deal.
Kisan Sangh and Fiji Indian politics
Kisan Sangh's support was concentrated in the North Western districts of Viti Levu and it consistently affected its result. In the 1940 Legislative Council election, the Kisan Sangh supported B.D. Lakshman won North Western Constituency seat in the Legislative Council. Following the split within the Kisan Sangh, A.D. Patel easily won in 1944. A.D. Patel managed to retain this seat with a reduced majority in 1947. In the 1950 election, Tulsi Ram Sharma, who was supported by Kisan Sangh, won the seat by 2340 votes to 1850 votes for A.D. Patel. The Kisan Sangh general secretary, Ayodhya Prasad, was himself elected as the member for North Western Constituency in 1953 and 1956. In 1959, Ayodhya Prasad lost his seat to his one-time ally, B. D. Lakshman.
In the election for the expanded Legislative Council in 1963, three Kisan Sangh supported candidates, lost to A.D. Patel's Citizen's Federation candidates. In the 1966 Legislative Council election, Ayodhya Prasad again stood against A.D. Patel, and lost by a large margin.
Negotiations for 1960 Contract
In 1959, the Maha Sangh and four other cane farmers' unions formed an umbrella organisation known as the Federation of Cane Growers to negotiate with the Colonial Sugar Refining Company for the new cane contract. While negotiations were still in progress, the Kisan Sangh withdrew from the Federation and signed the contract offered by the sugar company, leaving the Maha Sangh as the dominant group within the Federation of Cane Growers.
The Decline of the Kisan Sangh
In the 1970s and 1980s, the Kisan Sangh gradually lost support to the Federation of Cane Growers, which is affiliated to the National Federation Party. When the Fiji Labour Party was formed in 1985, the FLP-affiliated National Farmers Union further eroded the Kisan Sangh, which is at present only a minor player in Fiji sugar industry.
Siddiq Moidin Koya (1924–1993) was a Fijian Indian politician, Statesman and Opposition leader. He succeeded to the leadership of the mostly Indo-Fijian National Federation Party (NFP) on the death of the party's founder, A. D. Patel, in October 1969, remaining in this post until 1977. He later served a second term as leader of the NFP, from 1984 to 1987.
Sir Vijay Raghubar Singh, KBE was an Indo-Fijian lawyer and politician who held Cabinet office in the 1960s and 1970s. Vijay Singh served in Prime Minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara's government in a variety of positions, including Attorney-General, and was President of the Indian Alliance, a division of the ruling Alliance Party. He quit the party in 1979 following disagreement with Alliance leadership and later joined the opposition National Federation Party. Vijay Singh was involved in the restructure of the Fiji sugar industry and was a leading member of the Jaycees movement in Fiji.
Chandersen Chattur Singh was an Indo-Fijian politician. He caused a major sensation in the 1937 elections when he defeated A. D. Patel, a well known lawyer and political ally of Vishnu Deo.
Brahma Dass Lakshman was an Indo-Fijian politician, union leader and businessman, who had a considerable influence on Fiji’s sugar industry.
Tulsi Ram Sharma was the first Indo-Fijian to qualify as a lawyer. He served one term as member of the Legislative Council and three terms as the President of Fiji Indian Football Association. He was one of the founding members of the Maha Sangh, but his association with farmers' union was short-lived. In 1941 he was appointed to Central Indian War Committee, formed by the Government to enlist the support of Indians to the war effort.
The Federation of Cane Growers was formed as an umbrella organisation to negotiate the new cane contract due to take effect from 1960 with the Colonial Sugar Refining Company.
The National Farmers Union' (NFU) is one of Fiji's largest trade unions. It was launched in Labasa in July 1978 under the auspices of the Fiji Trades Union Congress, with Mahendra Chaudhry as its first General Secretary. The union was initially based in Vanua Levu but gradually extended its operations to Viti Levu.
Vishal Sangh was a cane farmers' union established in Fiji on 1 September 1946, by mainly Sikh farmers, who refused to re-join the Kisan Sangh after its reunification following its split into two factions in 1943. It was led by Mehar Singh, one of the founding members of the Kisan Sangh and its former vice-president.
There have been numerous sugar cane farmers−growers trade unions in Fiji and in the preceding British Colonony of Fiji (1874−1970).
The Indian Cane Growers Association was formed on 28 September 1919 and was based in Ba Province, one of the cane growing districts in the Western Division of Fiji. It was led by Theodore Riaz and included some well-to-do Indian cane farmers from Ba, like Ramgarib Singh and Randhir Singh. The Association proposed a scheme for co-operative stores and an agricultural bank financed by the Colonial Sugar Refining Company but the company refused to finance it. The Association asked for a higher price and Indian cane farmers refused to plant any more cane. The company made concessions, although it refused to guarantee the price increases for future years. The company refused to continue the bonus in 1921 and in the ensuing strike, it was Vashist Muni who assumed leadership of all cane farmers in Fiji.
The Kisan Sangh had been active in the Western Division of Fiji since 1937 but had not seen the need to expand its activities to other sugar cane growing districts because of transportation problems and the fact that the other districts combined had far fewer cane farmers than the Western Division. By 1950, the Maha Sangh, a rival to the Kisan Sangh, was well established in Labasa in the Northern Division. As negotiations began for the 1950 cane contract, the Kisan Sangh decided to spread its activities to the Northern Division and the Labasa Kisan Sangh was formed with support from Viti Levu.
Rewa Planters Union was formed on 14 July 1943 at a meeting attended by 1500 cane farmers from Rewa Province, Fiji. The union was formed in reaction to the strike of cane farmers taking place in the Western Division. The government had appointed a commission to inquire into the farmers' grievances and the Rewa farmers wanted to send a representative to it. The union was led by Ram Krishna Chaudhary with Faiz Mohammed as Secretary.
The Southern Division Kisan Sangh was formed in Fiji in 1946 by a former member of parliament, K. B. Singh, due to personal differences with the president of the Rewa Planters Union, Ram Krishna Chaudhary. There was widespread opposition to this until Vishnu Deo took over its leadership and worked together with Ram Krishna Chaudhary and his union.
Krishna S. Reddy was a Fiji Indian school teacher, leader of a farmers' union and both a nominated and elected member of the Legislative Council. Although he started his political career as an ally of A. D. Patel, disputes over the leadership style of A. D. Patel led to a split within the farmers' union that they both led and later they became members of opposing political parties. After independence, he was elected to the House of Representatives as an Alliance member and also served as an assistant minister.
The Citizens Federation was the political expression of a predominantly Indo-Fijian trade union movement, and was a forerunner of the present day National Federation Party.
Padri Mehar Singh was one of the founding members of Fiji's Kisan Sangh when it was established in 1937. He remained a prominent member of the union until 1943, when he and Ramcharan Singh led a faction that supported the strike instigated by the rival union, Maha Sangh, led by A. D. Patel. While most of his supporters rejoined the Kisan Sangh led by Ayodhya Prasad in 1946, Mehar Singh and his remaining supporters, mainly Sikhs, formed the Vishal Sangh. This union with a small support base remained a junior partner to the Maha Sangh from then on.
This is a synopsis of organisations formed by Indians in Fiji. When they became free from the bondage of indenture and were able to organise themselves, they founded numerous organizations to seek social and political justice. These organisations promoted the teaching of Indian languages and religious practices and also to helped others in time of need. Some of the successful organisations are listed below in order in which they were established. Some, such as the National Federation Party, are no longer exclusively Indian, but are still predominantly so.
References
A.P. Sharma, Farmers Struggle in Fiji: a History of Fiji Kisan Sangh, Kisan Sangh, Lautoka, 1962
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
