Seewoosagur Ramgoolam

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. Up to that time the Labour Party had been under the leadership of its original founders Emmanuel Anquetil, Maurice Curé, Pandit Sahadeo, Renganaden Seeneevassen and Mamode Hassenjee, Jean Prosper, Barthelemy Ohsan, Samuel Barbe and Godefroy Moutia who initiated the party in 1936. In September 1940 and during the 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. On 5 February 1938 Seewoosagur Ramgoolam was initiated into the masonic fraternity. On 24 November 1975 during a trip to Paris he joined Loge Mozart and on 1 April 1976 he was present at the Chambre Symbolique of the Loge de la Triple Espérance where he was awarded the honorary title of 33rd Degree of Scottish Rites. His involvement assisted in the bi-centenary celebrations of Freemasonry in Mauritius in 1976.

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. 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. In 1958 the Colonial Government appointed him as Ministerial Secretary to Treasury.

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

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".

Under the supervision of the Colonial Office, Ramgoolam served as chief minister and minister of finance from 1961 to 1965, then as premier from 1965 to 1968, before becoming prime minister in 1968. In 1963, the British Conservative government assisted him to form an All-Party Government in Mauritius.

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. At the same time his political ally Gaetan Duval was made Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur.

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. Boolell remained president of the Labour Party until 1991.

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 who is currently serving as prime minister.

Awards and honours

Various streets and public places in Mauritius bear the name of Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam (SSR), such as the SSR Botanical Garden, a recreational centre for senior citizens, SSR Medical College, Pamplemousses SSR National Hospital (at the site of the defunct Royal Alfred Observatory), the island's main airport, previously called Plaisance International Airport, and Kewal Nagar (a small village previously called Belle Rive). He also figures on every 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.