Indian Reform League (Fiji)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

The Indian Reform League was formed in Fiji in 1924, following the refusal of the Suva Y.M.C.A. to admit Indians. Its founder was A.W. McMillan of the New Zealand Y.M.C.A and educated Indians and Government clerks and interpreters such as M. S. Buksh, S. S. Chowla, John F. Grant, Ilahi Ramzan, and R. N. Deoki. Its aim was to carry out social work and apply pressure for social reform, like changes to marriage laws. Since most of its members were Indian Christians, it soon acquired a sectional character.

It provided volunteer nurses during the typhoid epidemic of 1925. It had a women's wing known as the Stri Sewa Sabha (Women's Service League), founded in 1934, which carried out social work amongst Fiji Indian women.

The League encouraged participation in sports, including in cricket, football, hockey and lawn tennis. In December 1927, it organised a schools football competition at Albert Park. Buoyed by the success of this tournament, the League met on 22 January 1928 and formed a Football Association committee which organised the first competition was on 26 May 1928 at the Marist Brothers School ground. In 1936, the association was renamed, the Suva Football Association, which was one of the original Associations that formed the Fiji Indian Football Association.

The Indian Reform League, with its Indian Christian power base came into conflict with another group of organised Indians, the Arya Samajis. Vishnu Deo accused the League of encouraging Indians to give up their culture and adopt European customs. Supporters of the League sued the pro-Arya Samaj newspaper, Fiji Samachar, for libel but suit was withdrawn when its publisher Ram Singh apologised.

  • Gillion, Kenneth (1977). The Fiji Indians: Challenge to European Dominance 1920-1946. Australian National University Press. ISBN 0-70811-291-9. 
Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.