Vishnu Deo

Pandit Vishnu Deo
Member of Legislative Council (Fiji) Southern Indian Division
In office 1929, 1937 – 1959
Preceded by	K. B. Singh
Succeeded by	B. D. Lakshman
Member of Executive Council (Fiji)
In office 1956–1959
Preceded by	James Madhavan
Personal details
Born	17 July 1900 Navua, Fiji
Died	7 May 1968 Suva, Fiji
Residence	Suva, Fiji
Profession	Customs Agent, Editor
Religion	Hindu (Arya Samaj)

Pandit Vishnu Deo OBE (17 July 1900 - 7 May 1968) was the first Fiji born and bred leader of the Fiji Indians. From his initial election to the Legislative Council in 1929 to his retirement in 1959, he remained the most powerful Fiji Indian political leader in Fiji. He was a staunch supporter of Arya Samaj in Fiji and also the editor of the first successful Hindi-language newspaper to be published in Fiji.

Pandit Vishnu Deo was born on 17 July 1900. He attended Marist Brothers School and had a keen intellect, becoming a fluent debater in both English and Hindi. He joined the immigration department as a clerk in 1918, taught at a school established by M. N. Naidu in Lautoka in the early 1920s, and started his own importing and exporting agency in 1927. In 1922, he had assisted the Raju Commission which had been sent to Fiji to make enquiries into the plight of the Indian community.

Vishnu Deo also founded a number of social and religious organisations. The Governor of Fiji proclaimed 15 May 1929 a public holiday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the first Indians in Fiji, but Vishnu Deo wanted this to be a day of mourning; at a meeting in Lautoka on 12 May 1929, it was decided to fast and pray on the day and to form the Fiji Indian National Congress. While there was an official ceremony and floats through Suva, Vishnu Deo and his associates displayed a black flag and burned the indenture system in effigy.

After a sustained campaign by Fiji Indians for equal rights, they were allowed to elect three representatives on a communal roll. In October 1929, Vishnu Deo was elected to the Legislative Council, easily defeating John F. Grant in the Southern Constituency. Vishnu Deo was sworn into the Legislative Council on 25 October 1929, and on 5 November moved a motion calling for common roll franchise. Upon the defeat of the motion, Vishnu Deo and the other two Fiji Indian members resigned. The strength of support for his policy by the Fiji Indians was demonstrated by the fact that when nominations were later called to fill the Legislative Council vacancies, no nominations were made.

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