Seewoosagur Ramgoolam

The Right Honourable Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam GCMG LRCP MRCS
SSR greeted by David Ben Gurion at Lod airport in 1962
Governor-General of Mauritius
In office 28 December 1983 – 15 December 1985
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Anerood Jugnauth
Preceded by	Dayendranath Burrenchobay
Succeeded by	Sir Cassam Moollan (acting)
Prime Minister of Mauritius
In office 12 March 1968 – 30 June 1982
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Governors General	Sir John Shaw Rennie Sir Michel Rivalland (Acting) Sir Leonard Williams Sir Raman Osman Sir Henry Garrioch Sir Dayendranath Burrenchobay
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Anerood Jugnauth
Chief Minister of Mauritius
In office 26 September 1961 – 12 March 1968
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Governor	Thomas Douglas Vickers (Acting) Sir John Shaw Rennie
Preceded by	Office Established
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Leader of Labour Party
In office 1 December 1958 – 15 December 1985
Preceded by	Emmanuel Anquetil
Succeeded by	Sir Satcam Boolell
Personal details
Born	(1900-09-18)18 September 1900 Kewal Nagar, British Mauritius
Died	15 December 1985(1985-12-15) (aged 85) Port Louis, Mauritius
Resting place	SSR Botanical Garden
Political party	Labour Party
Spouse	Sushil Ramjoorawon (1922-1984)
Children	Navin Sunita
Parent(s)	Moheeth Ramgoolam (father) Basmati Ramchurn (mother)
Residence	State House (Official) Rue Deforges, Port Louis (personal)
Alma mater	UCL, University of London LSE, University of London
Profession	Physician
Website	ssr.intnet.mu

Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam GCMG LRCP MRCS (September 18, 1900 – December 15, 1985; often referred to as Chacha Ramgoolam) was a Mauritian politician, statesman and philanthropist. He was a leader in the Mauritian independence movement, and served as the first Chief Minister and Prime Minister of Mauritius, as well as its sixth Governor-General. He was the Chairperson of the Organisation of African Unity from 1976 to 1977. As the leader of the Labour Party, Ramgoolam fought for the rights of labourers and led Mauritius to independence in 1968.

After his tertiary studies in London, Ramgoolam, who was initially a fervent defendant of the British administration and its empire, started calling for mass movement in order to obtain equal treatment, consideration, education and chances for all Mauritians through his authorship in a newspaper. His views changed due to then-fate of the Indo-Mauritian community which was oppressed, uneducated and ill-treated by the elite. He later joined the Labour Party to align himself with other members who were asking for equal rights and adequate working conditions for workers (mainly laborers). He later took leadership of the fight fought by other party members including Dr. Maurice Cure, Emmanuel Anquetile, Dr. R. Seeneevasen and Dr. Hassenjee.

He later cooperated with the Independent Forward Block (IFB) led by the Bissoundoyal brothers (Pundit Basdeo and Sookdeo; who were demanding for a complete decolonization and the removal of British administration from all Mauritian territories) and the Committee D'action Musulmane (CAM) led by Abdool Razack Mohamed (who demanded constitutional guarantees for the Muslim and other minority communities in an effort to prevent a circumstantial Hindu hegemony, which never happened) to form the independence party and movement which eventually led to Independence after the Mauritian general election, 1967.

Few years later, he formed a national government with then opposition party Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate (PMSD; the nationalist, conservative and only party to lead a campaign against Independence and Hindus) led by Gaetan Duval in order to prevent the Mauritian economy and social environment to collapse.

As Mauritius' first Prime Minister, he played a crucial role in shaping modern Mauritius' government, political culture and foreign policy. He worked for the emancipation of the Mauritian population, established free universal education and free health care services, and introduced old age pensions. He is known as the "Father of the Nation". His son, Navin Ramgoolam, has had three terms as Prime Minister of Mauritius.

Early life

Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, also known as Kewal, was born on 18 September 1900 at Belle Rive, Mauritius, in the district of Flacq. Ramgoolam was a Mauritian of Indian origin, that is, an Indo-Mauritian.

His father, Moheeth Ramgoolam, was an Indian immigrant labourer. Moheeth came to Mauritius aged 18 in a ship called The Hindoostan in 1896. His elder brother, Ramlochurn, had left the home village of Harigaon in Bihar in search of his fortune abroad. Moheeth worked as an indentured labourer and later became a Sirdar (overseer) at La Queen Victoria Sugar Estate. When he got married to 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 Hindi, Indian culture and philosophy, in the local evening school of the locality (called Baitka in Mauritian Hindu term), where children of the Hindu community learnt the vernacular language and glimpses of the Hindu culture. The teacher (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 was a precocious student and enrolled in the neighbouring R.C.A. School, run by Madame Siris without his mother's knowledge. He learned History, Geography, English and French. After leaving the pre-primary school, he went to Bel Air Government School, travelling by train, until he passed the sixth standard. At the age of seven, Ramgoolam lost his father and at the age of twelve,he suffered a serious accident in a cowshed that cost him his left eye. He continued his scholarship class at the Curepipe Boys’ Government School while taking up boarding with his uncle, Harry Parsad Seewoodharry Buguth, a sworn land surveyor, in Curepipe. He would listen to the political discussions between his uncle and his circle of friends on local politics and on the current struggle for Indian independence under Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Rash Behari Bose. These initial conversations were to form the basis of his political beliefs years later.

The scholarship classes, which formed the basis of lower secondary schooling, permitted Ramgoolam to go straight for the Junior Cambridge at the Royal College, Curepipe, where he fell under the influence of the English tutors, Reverend Fowler and Mr Harwood. He was charmed by British culture and manners and became a devoted admirer of the English language and literature; he also acquired a liking for French literature. After secondary school, Ramgoolam worked for three months in the Civil Service, despite racism within the organisation . His encounters with poor people, and the death of his mother, inspired Ramgoolam to help those who were less fortunate than him, and these experiences had a deep influence on his future life. With the financial help of his brother Ramlall, Ramgoolam went to study medicine in England.

London

In 1921, Ramgoolam set sail by the Messagerie Maritime for London with a transit of a couple of days in Paris when he rushed into a bookshop to purchase copies of the books of André Gide and André Malraux with both of whom he struck friendship. He graduated from University College London and attended lectures at the London School of Economics.

Independence of Mauritius

At the 1961 Constitutional Conference in London, the Parti Mauricien was in favour of an integration with Britain rather than independence within the Commonwealth. But Britain, at that time, had already decided that it would give up all its colonies with the exception of Hong-Kong, Gibraltar and the Falklands. In fact, the die had already been cast as early as 1959 when Harold Macmillan had made his famous “Wind of change blowing over Africa” speech. After the general election of 1963, 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”.

Many historians have claimed that Dr Ramgoolam fought the British and the integrationists with all his might to bring about independence for Mauritius. However, documentary evidence shows that Independence was inevitable, and had already been decided by the Anglo-Americans whose strategy was to maintain a military presence in the Indian Ocean, by excising the Chagos from Mauritius - prior to its independence.

After Independence

Ramgoolam served as Chief Minister from 1961 to 1968. The Colonial Office considered Dr Ramgoolam as a capable and far-sighted leader but they were also aware of his political ambition. In 1963, the British Conservative government was relying heavily on him to form an All-Party Government in Mauritius and to facilitate this issue, he was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 12 June 1965.

Ramgoolam was an ardent admirer of the late Mahatma Gandhi of India and worked to ensure that there would be no bloodshed in the campaign for independence. He led the Mauritian Labour Party from 1959 to 1982 having taken the leadership from Emmanuel Anquetille and Maurice Cure. He was finally granted independence on 12 March 1968, and remained Prime Minister, heading a series of coalition governments, up to 1982. In the general elections that year, his government was finally defeated by a Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM)-led coalition; Ramgoolam lost his own seat. Anerood Jugnauth became Prime Minister. In 1983, however, the MMM split and a new election ensued. Ramgoolam and the Labour Party supported Jugnauth and his new party, the Militant Socialist Movement. In return, Jugnauth, who won the election, had Ramgoolam appointed Governor General. He held this office till his death at the State House in 1985.

Ramgoolam was succeeded as leader of the Labour Party by Sir Satcam Boolell, who later passed it to Ramgoolam's son, Navin Ramgoolam, who has since served as Prime Minister twice (1995-2000 and 2005-2014).

Memorial

One rupee coin displaying the face of SSR

In memory of SSR, various streets in Mauritius, public places such as a garden, a recreational centre for elderly people, a college and the national airport bear the name of SSR, as well as his face on every Mauritian Rupee coin and on the highest note tender of Rs2,000. A monument was constructed at the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden, a statue at the Caudan Waterfront in Port Louis and another one in Patna, Bihar in India, the village of SSR forefathers. Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport is the main international airport in Mauritius.

See also

• History of Mauritius

External links

• Birth centenary celebrations of Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam
• Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, the Rare Diplomat, by Joseph Tsang Mang Kin ISBN 978-99903-0-626-2