Professor Basdeo Bissoondoyal was born on 15th April 1906 in Tyack, Rivière-des-Anguilles. This year marks the 99th anniversary of the birth of this great historical and religious figure of 20th century Mauritius. Pandit Bissoondoyal was a Mauritian patriot, an eminent writer, and a Gandhian missionary who fought for more than half a century for social justice and equality for all Mauritians.

In December 1939, P. Lutchmaya, a Mauritian politician and writer, mentioned in an article in Le Peuple Mauricien that, in 1920, he had the great privilege of meeting Mahatma Gandhi in India. He recalled that Gandhiji had asked him to do in Mauritius what he (the Mahatma) had done in Natal, during the early 1900s, basically to organize the Indo-Mauritians and fight for their rights.

However, in his article, Lutchmaya admitted that he was not the right man for such a great task, and he mentioned, ?But providence was to provide in its good time the man who was to organize them?? The man, whom history and destiny would call upon to fulfill such a great mission was Professor Basdeo Bissoondoyal.

Ironically enough, on the same day that Lutchmaya?s article appeared on 23rd December 1939, Pandit Bissoondoyal, who had just arrived from British India, delivered his first public sermon at Cassis, in Port Louis. This specific event marked the genesis of this great Gandhian?s missionary work and social struggle in Mauritius as well as the birth of Jan Andolan or the People?s Movement.

<B>Jan Andolan </B>

It is important to point out that some key events during the early career of Pandit Bissoondoyal were also milestones in the history of early modern Mauritius such as the founding of Jan Andolan in 1939, the Maha Yaj of December 1943, the celebration of the independence of India and Pakistan in August 1947 in Port-Louis, and the literacy campaign of May-July 1948. In December 1943, the Maha Yaj took place in Port-Louis at rue du Pouce and it was attended by 60,000 individuals. Several years later, when looking back at this particular event, the leader of Jan Andolan remarked, with great satisfaction, that it was ?a landmark in the history of the revival of Hinduism in our island home?.

In August 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. Between May and July 1948, he carried out an intensive campaign, at grassroots level, to show Indo-Mauritians how to sign their names in Hindi in order to pass a simple literacy test, as required by the new Constitution of 1947, on the eve of the crucial first general elections of August 1948. This was one of his greatest achievements and what Bissoondoyal started in the 1940s was truly a people?s movement.

Between 1933 and 1939, during his long stay in India, Bissoondoyal was undergoing his apprenticeship as a Gandhian while still a student. In 1934, he met Mahatma Gandhi in Lahore and a second time in 1937, in Calcutta. Even in 1939, while still in Calcutta, Bissoondoyal was already building a reputation for himself to the extent that the Calcutta police kept him under close surveillance. After all, in December 1938, he was delegated by the Mauritian Labour Party to represent their grievances to the Indian National Congress. In December 1939, while sailing from Bombay to Mauritius, each evening, for two weeks, he delivered sermons to his fellow travelers who were mostly Mauritians.

Shortly after creating Jan Andolan, Bissoondoyal began several campaigns for the promotion of the Hindi language and Hinduism throughout British Mauritius. According to Basdeo, even Pandit Cashinath Kistoe gave his blessings and firm support for the creation of Jan Andolan and its objectives.

During the 1940s, this great Gandhian and Mauritian patriot was jailed four times by the British colonial authorities because of his activities on behalf of the oppressed Mauritian masses. Following the example of Mahatma Gandhi, his spiritual guru, Bissoondoyal preferred to spend time in prison, rather than pay a fine, which was demanded by the colonial authorities because he was preaching without a permit from the local colonial police. While reflecting on these hard times, Bissoondoyal wrote: ?I have to fight many full battles. We were insulted, ill-used and antagonized, attacked, and off and on thrown into jail. I believe that to the end we will remain firm in our purpose and never deviate from our path.?

<B>A towering figure </B>

Furthermore, while in prison, Bissoondoyal drew his strength by reading the writings of Mahatma Gandhi, Henry David Thoreau, and Leo Tolstoy. Throughout the 1940s, Bissoondoyal used Gandhian tactics such as non-cooperation, passive resistance, and mass meetings in his long and valiant struggle against British colonial oppression. During that period, one of the well-known songs in Mauritius ran as follows: ?The valiant Bissoondoyal brought with him the teachings of Gandhi and, with stern self-sacrifice, spread those teachings all over the country?.

Therefore, it is evident that, thanks largely to this towering figure of our modern history, the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi were brought to Mauritian shores and were successfully applied here. In 1975, Pandit Bissoondoyal wrote, with some satisfaction: ?Of all the countries of overseas India, Mauritius is the one where Gandhism has had the most hearty welcome.?

Clearly, it would not be an exaggeration to state that Bissoondoyal was as close as Mauritians got to having someone like Mahatma Gandhi in the history of their country. Basdeo Bissoondoyal passed away on 23rd June 1991 at his residence on Sookdeo Bissoondoyal Avenue in Port Louis. Almost a decade and a half after his death, in one way or another, we are still benefiting from this great Mauritian figure?s long and valiant crusade for social justice and equality.

<B>Dr Satteeanund Peerthum & Satyendra Peerthum</B>