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The Mahatma’s Mauritian admirers
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The Mahatma’s Mauritian admirers
In October 1947, Pandit Basdeo Bissoondoyal and his Jan Andolan movement celebrated the 78th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi in Saint-Pierre. During the celebrations, a great deal of emphasis was placed on the special relationship which the Mauritian nation shared with the Mahatma and India. One of the distinguished individuals present at this ceremony was Ramkhelawan Boodhun, a famous Mauritian lawyer, politician, and writer.
More than two weeks later, in Edgar Millien’s L’Oeuvre, a well-known colonial newspaper, Boodhun reported: “The best way of honoring Mahatma Gandhi on his birthday, the professor [Pandit Basdeo Bissoondoyal] thought, was to speak of something dear to him [Mr. Gandhi] namely cultural freedom, the teaching of Hindi and Hindustani, as a common medium of expression for the purpose of the unification of the Indian people.”
Later in December, Sookdeo Bissoondoyal, in a long and emotional speech, paid a stirring tribute to the achievements of the father of the Indian nation. Six weeks later, in January 1948, Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated. One of the Mauritian historical figures greatly affected by the Mahatma’s death was R. K. Boodhun. When he heard of Gandhiji’s death, Ramkhelawan was overcome with grief. Shortly after, he delivered an emotional public lecture on the life and death of Gandhi entitled “The Greatest Historical Tragedy of Modern Times.”
He explained, while reflecting on the recent tragic event in India, “The news of Gandhi’s death flashed across the countries of the globe, over the wires and waves like wildfire. The newspapers recording the event, were sold like hot rolls in the multiple metropolises of the Eastern and Western hemispheres and in Mauritius.” In Mauritius, the Mahatma’s philosophy and actions have greatly influenced some great figures of 20th century Mauritius such as R. K. Boodhun, Basdeo and Sookdeo Bissoondoyal, Pandit Sahadeo and Dr. Maurice Cure.
In 1906, Mahatma Gandhi met Manilall Doctor, a Marathi lawyer and son-in-law of one of his close friends, and asked him to travel to Mauritius to help the Indians there. Between 1907 and 1912, this great follower of Gandhi carried out a valiant crusade to improve the working and living conditions as well as fight for the social and political rights of Indo-Mauritians.
During this period, R.K. Boodhun’s parents provided a lot of help to Manilall Doctor and his activities on behalf of Indo-Mauritians. In gratitude for their services, Manilall persuaded them to send Ramkhelawan to England to study law and promised to help their son. In 1912, as the great Marathi lawyer sailed away from Mauritius to India, he was accompanied by young Boodhun who had successfully completed his education at Royal College. During his brief sojourn in India, R. K. Boodhun met some great leaders of the Indian National Congress such as Professor Gokhale, the mentor of Mahatma Gandhi. Eventually, Ramkhelawan went on to England where he began his law studies.
Gandhi and Boodhun </B>
In 1916, Boodhun qualified as a lawyer and the same year, he met and heard Gandhi for the first time at Westminster Hall in London. For a very brief period, Boodhun and Gandhi resided in apartments next to each other in a London neighbourhood, where the future Mauritian politician was fortunate to have daily glimpses of this 20th century great figure.
Just before Mahatma Gandhi’s departure from London, Boodhun visited him. He relates: “I at once felt abashed and ashamed, when he [Gandhi] told me when I went to see him on board his boat-train on his departure for India, that it was high time I returned home.” Without delay, Ramkhelawan followed his advice and returned to Mauritius to work for the Indo-Mauritian community, just like Manilall Doctor a few years earlier.
After his return, R.K. Boodhun began to practise law and was the colony’s first Hindu lawyer. In 1921, the British government of Mauritius appointed him on the Council of Government to represent the interests of the Indian community. The following year when the proposed modifications to the Labour Law of 1878 were debated, in what eventually became the Labour Law of 1922, he vehemently opposed the idea of fingerprinting Indian labourers and proposed the continuing use of photographs as means of identification.
The same year, he delivered several speeches in the Council of Government in which he expressed his staunch opposition to the renewal of Indian immigration, which had been halted since 1910. Ramkhelawan wrote several letters to the British governor in Mauritius and to the Indian National Congress against its renewal. Through his actions, Boodhun clearly showed that he was inspired by the ideas and actions of Gandhi in South Africa and India. In 1926, the local British governor did not renew his nomination to the Council of Government and it does not take a far stretch of the imagination to realise why.
More than a decade later, in August 1937, immediately after the shootings on Gujadhur’s sugar estate in Flacq, Boodhun sent several telegrams to Gandhi, Nehru and other leaders of the Indian National Congress, and to the Secretary of State for the Colonies in London. He also wrote several articles in the local press about this incident and the terrible working and living conditions of Indian workers on sugar estates.
In 1943, when Mahatma Gandhi began his vow of fasting unto death, Ramkhelawan was greatly concerned and sent several letters to the Mahatma in which he offered his support and a great deal of encouragement. He even wrote a book entitled The Spiritual Triumph of Gandhi Maharaj as a tribute to the epic struggle and great achievements of the father of the Indian nation.
During the 20th century in Mauritius, with the exception of Basdeo and Sookdeo Bissoondoyal, Pandit Sahadeo, and Dr. Maurice Cure, no Mauritian public figure has paid a greater tribute to Mahatma Gandhi, his work and his philosophy of ahimsa or non-violence like R. K. Boodhun. Furthermore, on 2nd October, the birthday of M. K. Gandhi, is an important day when Mauritians reflect on the special relationship we share with Mahatma Gandhi as a historical figure and the land where he was born.
<B>Satyendra PEERTHUM</B>
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