Andrew Deoki
|
Andrew Indar Narayan Deoki OBE |
|
|---|---|
| 23rd Attorney General of Fiji | |
|
In office 1979–1981 |
|
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Governor General | Ratu Sir George Cakobau |
| Preceded by | Vijay R. Singh |
| Succeeded by | Manikam V. Pillai |
| Member, Legislative Council of Fiji | |
| Preceded by | Vishnu Deo |
| Succeeded by | Irene Jai Narayan |
| Senator of Fiji | |
|
In office 1979 – 1981(?) |
|
| Appointed by | Prime Minister of Fiji |
| President of the Senate | Sir Robert Munro |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 1915 |
| Profession | Lawyer |
| Religion | Methodist |
Andrew Indar Narayan Deoki OBE (born c. 1915) was a Fiji Indian statesman who served his community as a social and religious leader, a soccer administrator, a member of the Legislative Council in colonial Fiji, a member of the Senate in independent Fiji and as the Attorney General.
Andrew Deoki served two terms as President of the Fiji Indian Football Association, from 1951 to 1953 and from 1955 to 1958. He was responsible for the establishment of the Fiji Secondary Schools Soccer Association which took competitive soccer to high school students. He was the manager of the first Fiji team to tour overseas, managing the 1961 tour of New South Wales. He was one of the first administrators to put forth the proposal to open up football to all races in Fiji, and despite opposition from some quarters, the word Indian was removed from Fiji soccer’s governing body to form the Fiji Football Association in August 1961.
Andrew Deoki had for a long time held ambitions of serving in the Legislative Council, and realised his dream when in 1956 he was nominated into the Council by the Governor. Following the retirement of Vishnu Deo from politics in 1959, Deoki won the Southern Indian Division on his own merit and was made a member of the Executive Council. He retained the seat in the 1963 election despite stiff opposition in a five-way contest, with less than 40% of the votes cast. Very early in his political career, he displayed political maturity when he realised, that being a Christian (who made up a tiny proportion of Fiji Indian community), he needed to maintain good relations with all sections of the Indian community, and consequently his nomination paper for the 1963 election was signed by two Hindus, a Muslim, a Gujarati, a South Indian and a Sikh. Although he contested the election as an independent, he received support from the Kisan Sangh's newspaper, the Kisan Mitra. He lost the Suva Indian Communal Seat to Irene Jai Narayan in 1966 election by 5,676 votes to 2,779 votes.
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