Mahendra Chaudhry
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The Right Honourable Mahendra Chaudhry MP |
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| महेन्द्र पाल चौधरी | |
Chaudhry in 2015
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| Prime Minister of Fiji | |
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In office 19 May 1999 – 27 May 2000 |
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| President | Kamisese Mara |
| Preceded by | Sitiveni Rabuka |
| Succeeded by | Tevita Momoedonu |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
9 February 1942 Ba, Fiji |
| Political party | Labour Party |
| Spouse(s) | Virmati Chaudhry (1965-) |
| Children | 3 |
| Religion | Hindu |
Mahendra Pal Chaudhry (Fiji Hindi: महेन्द्र पाल चौधरी) (born 9 February 1942) is an Indo-Fijian and the leader of the Fiji Labour Party. Following a historic election in which he defeated the long-time former leader, Sitiveni Rabuka, the former trade union leader became Fiji's first Indo-Fijian Prime Minister on 19 May 1999, but exactly one year later, on 19 May 2000 he and most of his Cabinet were taken hostage by coup leader George Speight, in the Fiji coup of 2000. Unable to exercise his duties, he and his ministers were sacked by President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara on 27 May; Mara intended to assume emergency powers himself but was himself deposed by the military leader, Commodore Frank Bainimarama. After 56 days in captivity, Chaudhry was released on 13 July and subsequently embarked on a tour of the world to rally support. He was one of the leading voices raised in opposition to the Qarase government's proposed Reconciliation and Unity Commission, which he said was just a mechanism to grant amnesty to persons guilty of coup-related offences. In January 2007 he was appointed as Minister of Finance, Sugar Reform Public Enterprise and National Planning in the interim Cabinet of Commodore Frank Bainimarama, following another coup. Chaudhry was also co-chair of the task force focusing on economic growth within the National Council for Building a Better Fiji. In 2008, he left the government and became an outspoken critic of it.
Mahendra Chaudhry's ancestral ties are with the village of Bahu Jamalpur in Rohtak District, in the Indian state of Haryana. His grandfather, Ram Nath Chaudhry, a Hindu Jat, arrived in Fiji in 1902, as an indentured labourer, to work on Fiji's sugarcane plantations. On his arrival in Fiji he disputed the agreement to work in the plantations and was employed as a store manager until he started his own business. He later returned to India with his wife, Jai Kali (died 22 September 1930 at age 45) whom he had met and married in Fiji, daughter, Raaj Kumari and second son, Ram Gopal. Their elder son, Krishn Gopal Chaudhry remained in Fiji. Ram Gopal Chaudhry returned to Fiji in around 1934. Ram Gopal had seven children (five sons and two daughters), one of them and the eldest son, Mahendra. Mahendra's maternal grandfather was from the Indian state of Kerala, who settled to Fiji in early 1900s.
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