C. A. Shah Explained

Chirag Ali Shah
Title1:Member of the House of Representatives
Term1:1977
Constituency1:North-Eastern Indo-Fijian National
Predecessor1:M. T. Khan
Successor1:Ishwari Prasad Bajpai
Term2:1972–1977
Constituency2:Tavua–Vaileka Indo-Fijian Communal
Successor2:Ram Sami Goundar
Term3:1966–1972
Constituency3:North-East Viti Levu Indo-Fijian
Title4:Nominated Member of the Legislative Council
Term4:1963–1966
Death Date:December 1983 (aged 62)
Death Place:Wollongong, Australia
Party:Federation Party, NFP
Profession:Farmer

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,[1] 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, and including farmers union representatives A. D. Patel, 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[2] with his other colleagues in the Federation Party. In the 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 by-election.

He was re-elected again in the 1972 elections in the Tavua–Vaileka Indo-Fijian communal constituency, and from the North-Eastern national constituency in the March 1977 elections. However, he lost his seat in the September 1977 elections.

He died in Wollongong in Australia in December 1983, having travelled to Australia for medical treatment.[3]

Notes and References

  1. Robert Edward Norton (1977) Race and politics in Fiji, p78
  2. Web site: Report of the Fiji Constitutional Conference. 12. 8 August 2011.
  3. https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-339329730/view?partId=nla.obj-339434916#page/n64/mode/1up Chirag Ali Shah