Seewoosagur Ramgoolam
Encyclopedia
Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam KT
,GCMG
,KCMG
,LRCP
, MRCS
(Hindi
: सीवसगुर रंगूलम born on 18 September 1900 - 15 December 1985) is the first Chief Minister
, Prime Minister and sixth Governor General of Mauritius
.
He served as Chief Minister from 1961 to 1968, prime minister from 1968 until 1982 and lastly as Governor General from 1983 to 1985. He is known as the "Father of the Nation". As decolonisation swept the third world, he led Mauritius to independence from the United Kingdom
in 1968.
He graduated from University College London
, and attended lectures at the London School of Economics
. Ramgoolam 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 followed in the footsteps of some Asian and African countries and worked ardently for his country to gain access to independence from the United Kingdom, making sure that there would be no bloodshed. He was finally granted independence on 12 March 1968 from since he was prime minister up to 1982 when Anerood Jugnauth
took over the leadership of the country.
He is the highest respected personality of the county as he has various streets, public places such as gardens, government infrastructures, the national airport and his face on every Mauritian Rupee coins as well as on the highest note tender of Rs 2,000 equivalent to US$60.
He was a medical practitioner from London and hold a series of coalition governments from 1968 to 1982. He was leader of the Mauritian Labour Party from 1959 to 1982 as he took the leadership over from Emmanuel Anquetille and Dr Maurice Cure. He was defeated in 1982 general elections by the MMM-PSM coalition. He also lost his seat in his constituency .Sir Anerood Jugnauth became Prime Minister. In 1983, he joined hands with the MSM-MLP-PMSD coalition and was appointed as Governor General while Jugnauth continued as Prime Minister.
He died at the age of 85 in the Chateau of Reduit because of health complications. He handed the Labour Leadership to Sir Satcam Boolell who later passed it through his own son , Navin Ramgoolam
who is incumbent prime minister since 2005.
Kewal grew up freely as a child of nature, amidst plants, wild grass, flowers, the Camizard mountain which sent forth innumerable streams down the Belle Rive river, known as "Fourgett ke nadi" from where Kewal accompanied his father to catch fish and prawns in the flowing river. As a village child, he had lived and shared in the daily suffering of the oppressed Immigrant labourers. As a sensitive child who grew up as a kind, compassionate soul, Kewal must have vowed to wipe out the tears off the faces of his compatriots once he grew up to become the "governor" of this country.
He had his early grounding in Hindi alphabets and Indian culture and philosophy in the local baitka and at home. This was to flower into a broad culture of compassion, mutual understanding, non-violence, tolerance and love for his fellow human beings. Later, this broad Ramgoolam culture would find expression in the democratic principle of this country, combining the eternal values of the East and the West into a perfect blending that went into the shaping of our harmonious multi-cultural society.
The child Kewal joined the neighbouring R.C.A school under Madame Siris on his own without his mother’s knowledge. Later he left for Bel Air Government School, travelling by train from Olivia station until he passed his sixth standard.
In those hard days, life was shortened by all sorts of hazards, epidemics and threatening diseases, the plague, malaria, diptheria, typhoid, tuberculosis and Kewal was lucky to have been well looked after by his mother and his twenty-one year old step-brother, Ramlall, a fairly prosperous small planter and "marqueur" at Belle Rive estate. At the age of seven, Kewal lost his father and at the age of twelve, Kewal met with a serious accident in the cowshed that cost him his left eye permanently.
A studious and ambitious boy, Kewal was to continue his scholarship class at the Curepipe Boys’ Government School while he took up boarding at uncle Harry Parsad Seewoodharry, a sworn land surveyor, living at Bougainville street, Curepipe. There he would listen to the drawing room politics of the day carried by his uncle and his circle of friends. From there, he used to relish the talks given by the barber, Ratan, eloquent on the local political situation in Mauritius and the current passionate struggle for Indian liberation under Gandhi, Nehru and Bose.
Ratan was well informed about the articles written in Manilall Doctor’s weekly paper "Hindustani" and the current activities of the Action Libérale under Dr Eugène Laurent. That was his first lesson in politics, a taste which he was to nourish all his life. Later, after his studies, he would contribute to Fokeer’s "The Mauritius Indian Times" and revealed his personal interest in writing and journalism.
The scholarship classes helped Kewal to skip Forms I and II when he went straight to Junior Cambridge at the Royal College, Curepipe where he fell under the influence of the English tutors, Reverend Fowler and Mr Harwood. Early in life he was impressed by British culture and manners and he became a devoted lover of the English language and literature. But he also loved French literature and later, in Paris, he devoured the books of André Gide and André Malraux with whom he struck friendship. In London, he was to go deeper into English literature, listen to literary debates between George Bernard Shaw and G. K. Chesterton, make friends with the poets, Spender and T. S. Eliot.
After secondary schooling, Kewal worked for three months in the Civil Service, then a preserve of the Coloured bourgeoisie and firmly closed on the Asians.
When Kewal was young , both his parents died and he was indeed well looked after by his step brothers who did everything to help their young brother realise his dream of becoming the head of this country one day. In his turn, Kewal was deeply attached to his family and after the death of Ramlall, Kewal would look after his sister-in-law as a precious member of his family.
He also remembered how as a child he used to accompany the sick and suffering people, resigned to their fate, to the village hospital.
Kewal realised that the only way he could help mop up the suffering of the poor was by serving them as a doctor. And his brother Ramlall promised to help him through his medical studies in London.
He was an Indo-Mauritian
of Bihari
descent.
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
,GCMG
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
,KCMG
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
,LRCP
Royal College of Physicians
The Royal College of Physicians of London was founded in 1518 as the College of Physicians by royal charter of King Henry VIII in 1518 - the first medical institution in England to receive a royal charter...
, MRCS
Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons
MRCS is a professional qualification for surgeons in the UK and IrelandIt means Member of the Royal College of Surgeons. In the United Kingdom, doctors who gain this qualification traditionally no longer use the title 'Dr' but start to use the title 'Mr', 'Mrs', 'Miss' or 'Ms'.There are 4 surgical...
(Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
: सीवसगुर रंगूलम born on 18 September 1900 - 15 December 1985) is the first Chief Minister
Chief Minister
A Chief Minister is the elected head of government of a sub-national state, provinces of Sri Lanka, Pakistan, notably a state of India, a territory of Australia or a British Overseas Territory that has attained self-government...
, Prime Minister and sixth Governor General of Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
.
He served as Chief Minister from 1961 to 1968, prime minister from 1968 until 1982 and lastly as Governor General from 1983 to 1985. He is known as the "Father of the Nation". As decolonisation swept the third world, he led Mauritius to independence from the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in 1968.
He graduated from University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
, and attended lectures at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
. Ramgoolam was knighted
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
in the Queen's Birthday Honours
Queen's Birthday Honours
The Queen's Birthday Honours is a part of the British honours system, being a civic occasion on the celebration of the Queen's Official Birthday in which new members of most Commonwealth Realms honours are named. The awards are presented by the reigning monarch or head of state, currently Queen...
of 12 June 1965.
Ramgoolam was an ardent admirer of the late Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and followed in the footsteps of some Asian and African countries and worked ardently for his country to gain access to independence from the United Kingdom, making sure that there would be no bloodshed. He was finally granted independence on 12 March 1968 from since he was prime minister up to 1982 when Anerood Jugnauth
Anerood Jugnauth
Sir Anerood Jugnauth , KCMG, QC, GCSK, PC, LLB, GOLH, GOP, ORS is the President of Mauritius and all its dependencies...
took over the leadership of the country.
He is the highest respected personality of the county as he has various streets, public places such as gardens, government infrastructures, the national airport and his face on every Mauritian Rupee coins as well as on the highest note tender of Rs 2,000 equivalent to US$60.
He was a medical practitioner from London and hold a series of coalition governments from 1968 to 1982. He was leader of the Mauritian Labour Party from 1959 to 1982 as he took the leadership over from Emmanuel Anquetille and Dr Maurice Cure. He was defeated in 1982 general elections by the MMM-PSM coalition. He also lost his seat in his constituency .Sir Anerood Jugnauth became Prime Minister. In 1983, he joined hands with the MSM-MLP-PMSD coalition and was appointed as Governor General while Jugnauth continued as Prime Minister.
He died at the age of 85 in the Chateau of Reduit because of health complications. He handed the Labour Leadership to Sir Satcam Boolell who later passed it through his own son , Navin Ramgoolam
Navin Ramgoolam
Navinchandra Ramgoolam, GCSK, FRCP, MP is the Prime Minister of Mauritius, Minister of Defence, Home Affairs & External Communications, as well as Leader of the National Assembly. Being the leader of the Mauritian Labour Party, he serves as Member of parliament for constituency No...
who is incumbent prime minister since 2005.
Early Life
Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, also known as Kewal, was born with the century on 18 September 1900 at Belle Rive, Mauritius to Moheeth Ramgoolam, an Indian immigrant labourer who lived in the small village of Belle Rive, five miles away from Bel Air, in the Flacq district. Moheeth Ramgoolam married a young widow, Basmati Ramchurn, who had two sons, Nuckchadee Heeramun and Ramlall Ramchurn.Kewal grew up freely as a child of nature, amidst plants, wild grass, flowers, the Camizard mountain which sent forth innumerable streams down the Belle Rive river, known as "Fourgett ke nadi" from where Kewal accompanied his father to catch fish and prawns in the flowing river. As a village child, he had lived and shared in the daily suffering of the oppressed Immigrant labourers. As a sensitive child who grew up as a kind, compassionate soul, Kewal must have vowed to wipe out the tears off the faces of his compatriots once he grew up to become the "governor" of this country.
He had his early grounding in Hindi alphabets and Indian culture and philosophy in the local baitka and at home. This was to flower into a broad culture of compassion, mutual understanding, non-violence, tolerance and love for his fellow human beings. Later, this broad Ramgoolam culture would find expression in the democratic principle of this country, combining the eternal values of the East and the West into a perfect blending that went into the shaping of our harmonious multi-cultural society.
The child Kewal joined the neighbouring R.C.A school under Madame Siris on his own without his mother’s knowledge. Later he left for Bel Air Government School, travelling by train from Olivia station until he passed his sixth standard.
In those hard days, life was shortened by all sorts of hazards, epidemics and threatening diseases, the plague, malaria, diptheria, typhoid, tuberculosis and Kewal was lucky to have been well looked after by his mother and his twenty-one year old step-brother, Ramlall, a fairly prosperous small planter and "marqueur" at Belle Rive estate. At the age of seven, Kewal lost his father and at the age of twelve, Kewal met with a serious accident in the cowshed that cost him his left eye permanently.
A studious and ambitious boy, Kewal was to continue his scholarship class at the Curepipe Boys’ Government School while he took up boarding at uncle Harry Parsad Seewoodharry, a sworn land surveyor, living at Bougainville street, Curepipe. There he would listen to the drawing room politics of the day carried by his uncle and his circle of friends. From there, he used to relish the talks given by the barber, Ratan, eloquent on the local political situation in Mauritius and the current passionate struggle for Indian liberation under Gandhi, Nehru and Bose.
Ratan was well informed about the articles written in Manilall Doctor’s weekly paper "Hindustani" and the current activities of the Action Libérale under Dr Eugène Laurent. That was his first lesson in politics, a taste which he was to nourish all his life. Later, after his studies, he would contribute to Fokeer’s "The Mauritius Indian Times" and revealed his personal interest in writing and journalism.
The scholarship classes helped Kewal to skip Forms I and II when he went straight to Junior Cambridge at the Royal College, Curepipe where he fell under the influence of the English tutors, Reverend Fowler and Mr Harwood. Early in life he was impressed by British culture and manners and he became a devoted lover of the English language and literature. But he also loved French literature and later, in Paris, he devoured the books of André Gide and André Malraux with whom he struck friendship. In London, he was to go deeper into English literature, listen to literary debates between George Bernard Shaw and G. K. Chesterton, make friends with the poets, Spender and T. S. Eliot.
After secondary schooling, Kewal worked for three months in the Civil Service, then a preserve of the Coloured bourgeoisie and firmly closed on the Asians.
When Kewal was young , both his parents died and he was indeed well looked after by his step brothers who did everything to help their young brother realise his dream of becoming the head of this country one day. In his turn, Kewal was deeply attached to his family and after the death of Ramlall, Kewal would look after his sister-in-law as a precious member of his family.
He also remembered how as a child he used to accompany the sick and suffering people, resigned to their fate, to the village hospital.
Kewal realised that the only way he could help mop up the suffering of the poor was by serving them as a doctor. And his brother Ramlall promised to help him through his medical studies in London.
He was an Indo-Mauritian
Indo-Mauritian
Indo-Mauritians are people of Indian descent living on the island of Mauritius, where they represent a majority comprising 68% of the population according to the July 2007 statistics...
of Bihari
Bihari people
The Biharis are an ethnic group originating from the present state of Bihar with a history going back three millennia...
descent.