Ayodhya Prasad
| Ayodhya Prasad Sharma | |
|---|---|
| अयोध्या प्रसाद शर्मा | |
| Member of Legislative Council (Fiji) North Western Indian Division |
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In office 1953–1959 |
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| Preceded by | Tulsi Ram Sharma |
| Succeeded by | B. D. Lakshman |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 30 April 1909 Butana, Rohtak, Punjab, British India |
| Died | 28 February 1972 Lautoka, Fiji |
| Political party | National Congress of Fiji |
| Profession | Farmer, trade unionist |
Ayodhya Prasad Sharma (Hindi: अयोध्या प्रसाद शर्मा), 30 April 1909 – 28 February 1972) was an Indo-Fijian farmers' leader and politician, who formed the most successful farmers' union in Fiji and forced the Colonial Sugar Refining Company to make concessions to farmers after 60 years of complete control over Fiji's economy. However, other Fiji Indian leaders formed rival unions and his initial success was not repeated.
Ayodhya Prasad was born in Butana village in the district of Rohtak in the state of Punjab in India on 30 April 1909. While studying in India, he learned about the freedom enjoyed by people in foreign countries and decided to go to one of these countries. He persuaded his father to let him travel overseas for three years and arrived in Fiji in January 1929. Since there was a shortage of teachers in Fiji he obtained a third grade teacher's certificate and started teaching in Gurkul Primary School in Saweni, Lautoka. Due to public demand he soon left for Tunaliya, Nadi where he helped to build a school. There was no syllabus for teaching Hindi and when the school inspector found him teaching Hindi using a book which aroused nationalistic spirit amongst the Fiji Indians, Ayodhya Prasad was asked to stop using the book. He refused and his registration as a teacher was cancelled. In 1931 he returned to India. On his way to India, Ayodhya Prasad met an American, with whom he had a discussion about the political situation in India. At the end of the discussion he realised that Indians were under the control of foreigners, not because the English were bad but because the Indians were not united.
Ayodhya Prasad returned to Fiji in April 1932 to prepare to go to America to study. To earn money for his trip, he acquired some land in Yalalevu, Ba and started cane farming. He worked very hard on this farm but was told by the Colonial Sugar Refining Company (CSR) that most of his cane had turned into molasses and his cane had very low sugar content. The money he received for the cane was not even sufficient to cover his costs. He did not receive any statement from the company detailing the amount received for the cane and the amount deducted for costs like fertiliser. His dream of going to America was in tatters. In the 1937 Legislative Council elections he supported Chattur Singh, who defeated his more educated opponent, A. D. Patel by a narrow margin but this result was to have profound implications for the relationship between A.D. Patel and Ayodhya Prasad in later years. After the election, people who had seen the determination with which he had campaigned in the election, persuaded him to give up his dream of going to America and to organise the farmers of Fiji.
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