Ayodhya Prasad Sharma (30 April 1909 - 28 February 1972) was an
Indo-Fijian farmers’ leader and politician, who formed the most successful farmers’ union in
Fiji and forced the
Colonial Sugar Refining Company to make concessions to farmers after 60 years of complete control over Fiji’s economy. However, other
Fiji Indian leaders formed rival unions and his initial success was not repeated.
First trip to Fiji
Ayodhya Prasad was born in
Butana village in the district of
Rohtak in the state of
Haryana in
India on 30 April 1909. While studying in India, he learned about the freedom enjoyed by people in foreign countries and decided to go to one of these countries. He persuaded his father to let him travel overseas for three years and arrived in Fiji in January 1929. Since there was a shortage of teachers in Fiji he obtained a third grade teacher’s certificate and started teaching in
Gurkul Primary School in Saweni,
Lautoka. Due to public demand he soon left for Tunaliya,
Nadi where he helped to build a school. There was no syllabus for teaching
Hindi and when the school inspector found him teaching Hindi using a book which aroused nationalistic spirit amongst the Fiji Indians, Ayodhya Prasad was asked to stop using the book. He refused and his registration as a teacher was cancelled. In 1931 he returned to India. On his way to India, Ayodhya Prasad met an
American, with whom he had a discussion about the political situation in India. At the end of the...
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