Seewoosagur Ramgoolam

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Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam
)
Chief Minister of Mauritius
In office
26 September 1961 – 12 March 1968
MonarchElizabeth II
GovernorThomas Douglas Vickers (acting); Sir John Shaw Rennie
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Lord Mayor of Port Louis
In office
1958–1959
Preceded byEdgard Millien
Succeeded byGuy Forget
Leader of Labour Party
In office
1 December 1958 – 15 December 1985
Preceded byEmmanuel Anquetil
Succeeded bySir Satcam Boolell
Personal details
Born(1900-09-18)18 September 1900
Belle Rive (now Kewal Nagar),
State House (official); Rue Deforges, Port Louis (personal)
Alma materUniversity College London; London School of Economics
ProfessionPhysician
Websitessr.intnet.mu

Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam

Mauritian physician, politician, and statesman. He served as the island's only chief minister, first prime minister, and fifth governor-general
.

He is widely recognized as the nation's founding father. After Guy Rozemont's death in 1956, Ramgoolam served as the leader of the Labour Party of Mauritius until his death in 1985 and led the country to independence in 1968.

His son,

Dr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam, served as the third and fifth prime minister of Mauritius
.

Early life

Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, was born on 18 September 1900 at Belle Rive, Mauritius, in the

indentured labourer
and later became a Sirdar (overseer) at Queen Victoria Sugar Estate. When he married Basmati Ramchurn in 1898, he moved to Belle Rive Sugar Estate. Basmati was a young widow born in Mauritius. She already had two sons: Nuckchadee Heeramun and Ramlall Ramchurn.

Ramgoolam had his early grounding in

guruji) would teach prayers and songs. Sanskrit prayers and perennial values taken from sacred scriptures like the Vedas, the Ramayana, the Upanishads, and the Bhagavad Gita
were also taught.

He enrolled in the neighbouring R.C.A. (Roman Catholic Aided) School, run by Madame Siris without his mother's knowledge. He learned History, Geography, English and French.

Royal College, Curepipe
, where he was educated by the likes of Reverend Fowler and Mr Harwood. After secondary school, Ramgoolam worked for 3 months in the Civil Service.

With the financial help of his brother Ramlall, Ramgoolam was able to initiate medical studies in England.[5] In 1921, Ramgoolam set sail on one of the ships of the Messageries maritimes for Marseille, and continued by train to London, his final destination, with a transit of a couple of days in Paris. In the French capital he purchased copies of the books of André Gide and André Malraux with both of whom he struck friendship.[5] He graduated from University College London and attended lectures at the London School of Economics.[6]

Political career

Pre-independence

In 1935 he returned to Mauritius after completing medical studies in London and Seewoosagur worked to improve the living and working conditions of the bulk of the island's population which consisted of the descendants of indentured Indian laborers and enslaved Africans. After joining Edgar Laurent's party Union Mauricienne and Jules Koenig's Groupement des Douze, it was in 1947 that Ramgoolam joined the Labour Party a short time before the 1948 General Elections. Ramgoolam realised the increasing popularity of the new Labour Party leader Guy Rozemont, who succeeded Emmanuel Anquetil in 1946.

Second World War he became one of the founders of the Labour Party's newspaper Advance which advocated universal suffrage, economic reform and social justice. Ramgoolam wrote a series of articles using pseudonym Thumb Mark II which challenged the island's established conservative sugar oligarchs. He was also appointed as President of the group known as Indian Cultural Association.[9][10] Seewoosagur Ramgoolam also joined the masonic fraternity and was an active member of the Loge de la Triple Espérance.[11][12]

From 1940 to 1953 he was an elected Municipal Councillor in Port Louis and was re-elected to serve from 1956 to 1960. Then he was elected Deputy Mayor of Port-Louis in 1956 and became Lord Mayor of Port Louis in 1958. Seewoosagur Ramgoolam served as Nominated Member of the Legislative Council from 1940 to 1948. At the 1948 General Elections he was elected Member of Legislative Council for Pamplemousses-Rivière du Rempart as an independent candidate.[13] He was re-elected to the Legislative Council in 1953, 1959 (Triolet) and 1967 (Pamplemousses-Triolet). In 1948 and 1953 he was also appointed as member of the Executive Council. From 1951 to 1956 he joined the Civil Service to work as Liaison Officer for Education before becoming first MLA for Pamplemousses-Triolet in December 1956.[14] In 1958 the Colonial Government appointed him as Ministerial Secretary to Treasury.[15]

He led the Mauritian Labour Party from 1959 to 1982 following the death of Guy Rozemont in March 1956.[16]

At the 1961 Constitutional Conference in London, the

Gaetan Duval, then deputy-leader of the Parti Mauricien, again lobbied for Integration with Britain. But this was once more rejected by the British who did not consider integration as “a practical proposition for Mauritius, even if the majority of parties in Mauritius wanted it”.[18]

Under the supervision of the

Queen's Birthday Honours of 12 June 1965.[6]

In 1967 he cooperated with the

Comité d'Action Musulman (CAM) led by Abdool Razack Mohamed (which campaigned for constitutional guarantees to protect the Muslim and other minority communities in an effort to prevent a circumstantial Hindu hegemony) to form the Independence Party (Mauritius). This coalition eventually led to 1968 Independence from Great Britain after the 1967 Mauritian general election.[19]

Independence

In 1969 he contracted an alliance with his party's rival Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate (PMSD) which was led by Gaetan Duval. This alliance allowed Ramgoolam to stay in power despite the departure of its former ally IFB from the government. Sookdeo Bissoondoyal's IFB members went into opposition whilst some IFB MP's defected to the Labour Party to maintain their ministerial portfolios.

In 1973 France elevated Seewoosagur Ramgoolam to the rank of Grand Officier de la Légion d'Honneur de la République Française.[20] At the same time his political ally Gaetan Duval was made Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur.[21]

Due to the poor performance of his various governments from 1967 to 1982, his party lost the 1982 general elections when none of his candidates was elected to parliament. He lost his parliamentary seat which led to further downfall of the Labour Party. He then assisted the newly formed party named MSM and its ex-MMM leader Anerood Jugnauth to win the 1983 elections. The Labour Party became a minority party in a coalition MSM-Labour government and Ramgoolam was appointed Governor-General, a position which he held until his death in 1985. Ramgoolam was succeeded as leader of the Labour Party by Sir Satcam Boolell in 1984 when the latter returned to the Labour Party after having formed and led a new party Mouvement Patriotique Mauricien (MPM) following his 1982 electoral defeat.[22] Boolell remained president of the Labour Party until 1991.[23]

Ramgoolam was also the Chairperson of the Organisation of African Unity from 1976 to 1977.

Personal life

In 1939 Ramgoolam married Sushil Ramjoorawon. They had two children: a daughter, Sunita (now Sunita Joypaul), and a son, Navin Ramgoolam.[24]

Legacy and recognition

One rupee coin displaying the portrait of Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam

Various streets and public places in Mauritius bear the name of Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam (SSR), such as the

Mauritian Rupee coin and on the highest note tender of Rs2,000. Monuments to him also stand in the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden, on Caudan Waterfront in Port Louis, and even in the village of SSR's ancestor, near Patna, Bihar in India.[citation needed
]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Sunita Ramgoolam-Joypaul : « Maman doit être fière de Navin et moi" (in French). Le Defimedia Group. Archived from the original on 15 December 2014. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
  2. ^ "Politics here is spelt with a capital 'C' - Indian Express". archive.indianexpress.com. Archived from the original on 2022-09-29. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
  3. ^ Laiticia Heerah, Hashwini (2015). "Gender and Politicised Religion". researchgate.net. University of Mauritius.
  4. ^ Our Struggle, 20th century Mauritius, Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, Anand Mulloo
  5. ^ a b c "The Man and his Vision". Archived from the original on 19 August 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
  6. ^ a b "No. 43770". The London Gazette (Supplement). 21 September 1965. p. 8899.
  7. ^ Moheeputh, Anand. "The shotgun wedding between Ramgoolam and Rozemont (20-Feb-2014)". L'Express. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  8. ^ "Historical summary SSR". Government of Mauritius. Archived from the original on 2020-09-27. Retrieved 2020-10-02.
  9. ^ "Naissance du Parti Travailliste". Advance. 25 August 2017. Archived from the original on 2022-01-29. Retrieved 2020-10-02.
  10. ^ "British Colonial Rule". U.S. Library of Congress. Archived from the original on 2020-09-26. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
  11. ^ "Des francs-maçons au MMM: Bizlall dénonce une bêtise de Bérenger". L'Express. Archived from the original on 2021-12-11. Retrieved 2015-03-17.
  12. ^ Acquilina, Fabrice. "La franc-maçonnerie en pleine lumière avec Brinda Venkaya Reichert, Doctorante à l'université Michel-de-Montaigne - Bordeaux-III". L'Express. Archived from the original on 2021-12-11. Retrieved 2013-08-19.
  13. ^ Selvon, Sydney (22 February 2017). "The true nature of the retrocession movement in Mauritius …prior to the birth of the Mauritius Labour Party". www.lexpress.mu. L'Express. Archived from the original on 2020-06-03. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
  14. ^ Dukhira, Chit (20 September 2013). "SSR: Ahead of his generation". Mauritius Times. Archived from the original on 2021-12-11. Retrieved 2020-10-02.
  15. ^ "Biography of SSR". Labour Party. Archived from the original on 2007-07-01. Retrieved 2020-10-02.
  16. ^ "History: Independence and post-colonial Mauritius (1968-1982)". Le Mauricien. 30 March 2015. Archived from the original on 2021-12-11. Retrieved 2015-03-30.
  17. ^ Not a Paradise, I love you Mauritius, Dr. A. Cader Raman, Singapore National Printers Ltd, 1991
  18. ^ a b "Histoire: Mauritius Independence 1961-1968". Le Mauricien. 9 March 2014. Archived from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  19. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2230.1968.tb01213.x. Archived
    from the original on 2021-12-11. Retrieved 2020-07-19.
  20. ^ "Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam". Labour Party. Archived from the original on 2007-07-01. Retrieved 2021-06-10.
  21. ^ "France: Mauritius Prime Minister Made A Grand Officer Of The Legion D'honneur. 1973". British Pathé. Archived from the original on 2018-11-27. Retrieved 2021-06-10.
  22. ^ "Satcam Boolell immortalisé". L'Express. Archived from the original on 2022-07-07. Retrieved 2008-09-12.
  23. ^ "Hommage à Sir Satcam Boolell". Le Mauricien (in French). 2015-09-11. Archived from the original on 2018-11-25. Retrieved 2020-05-18.
  24. ^ "Déplacements à l'Etranger de Navin Ramgoolam : Les Plus Gros Bénéficiaires de Per Diem Connus". Business Mega. Archived from the original on 2021-12-11. Retrieved 2015-03-25.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam.
Government offices
Preceded by
Governor-General of Mauritius

1983–1985 		Succeeded by
Sir Cassam Moollan (acting)
Political offices
Preceded by
Office established
Prime Minister of Mauritius

1968–1982 		Succeeded by
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