Chirag Ali Shah (died December 1983) was an
Indo-Fijian farmer and politician. He was a member of the
Legislative Council and
House of Representatives from 1963 to 1977.
Biography
A cane farmer in
Ra Province, Shah joined the Legislative Council in 1963 when he was one of the two Indo-Fijian members appointed to the legislature by the
Governor. Previously, nominated members had been largely pro-government but Shah aligned himself with the opposition. This group, known as the
Citizens Federation
The Citizens Federation was the political expression of a predominantly Indo-Fijian trade union movement, and was a forerunner of the present day National Federation Party.
A dispute between cane farmers and the Colonial Sugar Refining Company ...
, and including farmers union representatives
A. D. Patel
Ambalal Dahyabhai Patel, better known as A.D. Patel (13 March 1905 – 1 October 1969), was an Indo-Fijian politician, farmers' leader and founder and leader of the National Federation Party. Patel was uncompromisingly committed to a vision of an ...
, Sidiq Koya, and James Madhavan, later formed the first political party in Fiji, the Federation Party.
Shah's inclusion in the new political party provided diversity to the hierarchy of the party which was dominated by lawyers, businessmen and academics. He took part in the 1965 Constitutional Conference in London with his other colleagues in the Federation Party. In the 1966 Fijian general election, 1966 elections he won the North-East Viti Levu seat for the Federation Party in a three-way contest with 58% of the vote. The Indo-Fijian members all resigned two years later to protest government policies, with Shah re-elected in the subsequent 1968 Fijian by-elections, 1968 by-election.
He was re-elected again in the 1972 Fijian general election, 1972 elections in the Tavua–Vaileka Indo-Fijian Communal constituencies, communal constituency, and from the North-Eastern national constituencies, national constituency in the March 1977 Fijian general election, March 1977 elections. However, he lost his seat in the September 1977 Fijian general election, September 1977 elections.
He died in Wollongong in Australia in December 1983, having travelled to Australia for medical treatment.
Chirag Ali Shah
''Pacific Islands Monthly'', February 1984, p65
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shah, C. A.
Fijian farmers
National Federation Party politicians
Members of the Legislative Council of Fiji
Members of the House of Representatives (Fiji)
1983 deaths
1920s births
Indo-Fijian politicians
20th-century farmers