Gnanadicarayen Arlanda, more commonly known as Louis Arlanda or Gnanadicarayen Louis Arlanda was a

Mauritian Mauritians (singular Mauritian; french: Mauricien; Creole: ''Morisien'') are nationals or natives of the Republic of Mauritius and their descendants. Mauritius is a multi-ethnic society, with notable groups of people of South Asian (notably I ...

politician and businessman. He was the first Indo-Mauritian to become a member of the ruling Council, which was an early form of modern-day

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

or Parliament of Mauritius.

Early life

Gnanadicarayen Louis Arlanda was born at ''Rue Des Pamplemousses'' in the capital city of Port Louis. His father was Gnanon Arlanda who had migrated from Pondicherry,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

to Mauritius when the island was under French colonial rule before 1810.

Career

Gnanadicarayen Louis Arlanda became a wealthy land owner and agriculturist. He financed the growing Indian Mission and became a negotiator. Louis Arlanda was especially influential amongst the small growers of Indian origins.

Politics

Following Sir

Virgile Naz Sir Virgile Naz (1825-1901) was a Mauritian lawyer, businessman and politician who was elected in British Mauritius to the Council of the Government of Mauritius, the predecessor of modern-day National Assembly or Parliament. Early life Virgile ...

's recommendation Governor

John Pope Hennessy Sir John Pope Hennessy (; 8 August 1834 – 7 October 1891), was an Irish and British politician and colonial administrator who served as the eighth Governor of Hong Kong and the fifteenth Governor of Mauritius. Early life John Pope Henness ...

nominated Gnanadicarayen Arlanda as the first Indo-Mauritian member of the ruling Council in 1886. However the influential sugar oligarchy had supported Arlanda's rival Emile Sandapa who was also of Indian origins. Despite all the criticism of the likes of Célicourt Antelme councilor Arlanda served until 1891. With the revised

Constitution of Mauritius (1885) The British colony of Mauritius received a new constitution by letters patent on 16 September 1885. It established a Council of Government of 27 members: eight ''ex officio'' members, nine appointed by the governor (at least three of which could n ...

provisions were being made for fairer representation of the population in politics. Creole leader Onesipho Beaugeard published ''Cens Démocratique'' which advocated better representation of the

coloureds Coloureds ( af, Kleurlinge or , ) refers to members of multiracial ethnic communities in Southern Africa who may have ancestry from more than one of the various populations inhabiting the region, including African, European, and Asian. South ...

. The new Constitution created both nominated and elected positions in the Council primarily for the white and fair-skinned Creole elite who owned real estate; allowance started to be made to represent the growing Indo-Mauritian populace. At the same time two main political parties took shape: the pro-Hennessy Reform Party of Sir William Newton where as the anti-Hennessy party Democrats was led by Gustave de Coriolis and Onésipho Beaugeard.

References

Government ministers of Mauritius Members of the National Assembly (Mauritius) Mauritian Hindus Mauritian politicians of Indian descent Mauritian Tamil politicians Mauritian people of Tamil descent 19th-century African people Year of birth missing Year of death missing {{Mauritius-politician-stub