On Tuesday, 8th February 2005, the Basdeo Bissoondoyal Trust Fund Act was passed by the Mauritian Parliament. With the enactment of this new law, the work and legacy of Professor Basdeo Bissoondoyal, who is one of the most important figures of 20th century Mauritius, is being honoured and remembered. Professor Bissoondoyal was a Mauritian patriot, a Gandhian, Hindu missionary and an eminent writer. Through his actions, writings, speeches, and the Jan Andolan, his socio-cultural movement, he was a maker and shaper of modern Mauritius.

One of the objectives of the Professor Basdeo Bissoondoyal Trust Fund will be to perpetuate his memory and work so that it will serve as an inspiration to all Mauritians to devote themselves to the service of their country. At the same time, this new trust fund will have the great task of collecting and preserving the voluminous writings of Bissoondoyal in the field of religion, philosophy, culture, and history as well as intercultural dialogue which would help to promote national unity.

The other major objective of the trust fund will be to promote greater understanding both nationally and internationally, the ideas and the ideals to which Bissoondoyal devoted his public life spanning more than five decades. It should be noted that the soon-to-be-established Board of the Professor Basdeo Bissoondoyal Trust Fund will have to make provision for the creation of a ?Basdeo Bissoondoyal Memorial Library and Documentation Centre?.

Hopefully, with the approval of the Bissoondoyal family, this can be set up at Vallonville Street in Port-Louis which used to be the residence of Basdeo Bissoondoyal and from where he carried out his struggle between the 1940s and 1960s. Another important provision of this new Act is to organize talks, seminars, conferences, exhibitions, and other activities on the life, work, and writings of Professor Bissoondoyal.

Today, historians unanimously agree that, as a defender and leader of the oppressed people of our country, Pandit Basdeo Bissoondoyal followed in the footsteps of such illustrious Mauritian historical figures as Reverend Jean Lebrun, Rémy Ollier, Napoléon Savy, Adolphe de Plevitz, Manilall Doctor, Pandit Cashinath Kistoe, and Dr Maurice Curé.

Between 1939 and 1991, Professor Bissoondoyal was a leader and a key figure in the Indo-Mauritian community. He greatly influenced and moulded three generations of Indo-Mauritians through his 6000 public sermons, hundreds of bhaitkas, and extensive writings. For a period spanning more than five decades, he dedicated his life to reviving and firmly entrenching Hindu traditions, customs, and values into the lives of Indo-Mauritians throughout the island.

Ever since the early 1940s, Bissoondoyal used public sermons, bhaitkas, and the organization of mass Hindu festivals to preach and educate the Mauritian masses about Hinduism and Hindu traditions and customs. Some of the key events during the early career of Pandit Bissoondoyal were also milestones in the history of modern Mauritius such as the founding of the Jan Andolan Movement in 1939, the Mahayaj of 1943, the celebration of the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, in Port-Louis, and the literacy campaign of 1948.

Within days after his return from India, Bissoondoyal gave his first official public sermon at Cassis and immediately, he took up the cause of the oppressed Mauritian masses by forming the Jan Andolan, or the People?s Movement, towards the end of December 1939. In December 1943, the Maha Yaj took place in Port-Louis and it was attended by 60000 individuals. Several years later, when looking back at this particular event, the leader of the Jan Andolan remarked, with a great deal of satisfaction, that it was ?a landmark in the history of the revival of Hinduism in our island home?.

In 1947, Bissoondoyal organized a meeting in Bell Village, Port-Louis which was attended by thousands of Hindus and Muslims on the occasion of the independence of India and Pakistan from the yoke of British rule. The following year, he carried out an intensive campaign, at the grassroots level, to show Indo-Mauritians to sign their names in Hindi in order to pass the literacy test, as required by the new Constitution of 1947, on the eve of the crucial general elections of 1948. This was one of his greatest achievements and what Bissoondoyal started in the 1940s was truly a people?s movement.

Between 1944 and 1949, more than 300 voluntary Hindi schools were open all over the island and they were under the supervision of the Swayam Sevaks which was founded and controlled by the leader of the Jan Andolan. During his long struggle, Professor Bissoondoyal was responsible for the education of thousands of Indo-Mauritians.

By teaching and organizing the Mauritian people, at the grassroots level, he also paved the way and contributed in this island?s accession to Independence in 1968. After all, at one point, even Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam did admit that Basdeo Bissoondoyal, through his long struggle and hard work, played a crucial role in Mauritius obtaining its independence from British rule.

Professor Bissoondoyal was not only an important figure of modern Mauritius, but also one of the most prolific writers and great intellectuals in Mauritian history. As early as 1932, one of Basdeo?s articles was published in the journal L?Idée Libre in France. Over a period of more than 60 years, he wrote more than 275 articles as well as 20 books in Hindi, 14 in English, 5 in French, and in Sanskrit. Apart from Mauritius, his works have been published in India, Great Britain, France, and the United States.

In his articles and books, Bissoondoyal wrote on literature, Mauritian, Indian and world history, philosophy, religion, and comparative civilization. In general, his works have shaped the thoughts and heavily influenced the writings of three generations of Indo-Mauritian intellectuals and writers and they have become an integral of part of the Mauritian literary heritage.

In conclusion, the setting up of the Basdeo Bissoondoyal Trust Fund will promote and preserve the work of this great Mauritian historical figure and eminent writer. Indeed, it is only through such an initiative that for many years to come the life, work, and struggle of Pandit Bissoondoyal will be remembered and honoured by the Mauritian people.