Bhadase Maraj

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Bhadase Sagan Maraj

1st Political Leader of the Democratic Liberation Party
In office
1971–1971
Preceded byInaugural holder
Succeeded byNone (party dissolved)
1st Political Leader of the Democratic Labour Party
In office
1957–1960
Preceded byHimself as Political Leader of the People's Democratic Party
Succeeded byRudranath Capildeo
1st Political Leader of the People's Democratic Party
In office
1953–1957
Preceded byInaugural holder
Succeeded byHimself as Political Leader of the Democratic Labour Party
Member of Parliament
for Chaguanas
In office
1967–1971
Preceded byRudranath Capildeo
Succeeded byBalraj Deosarran
Member of the Legislative Council
for Caroni North
In office
26 October 1956 – 21 September 1961
Preceded byMitra Sinanan[1]
Succeeded byBalgobin Ramdeen (newly created constituency of Caroni East)
Member of the Legislative Council
for Tunapuna
In office
1950–1956
Succeeded byLearie Constantine
1st President General of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha
In office
1952–1971
DharmacharyaPt. Jankie Persad Sharma (1955-1971)[2]
Pt. Basdeo Misir (1952-1955)[3]
3rd President General of the All Trinidad Sugar Estates and Factory Workers Union
In office
1957–1971
Preceded byMcDonald Moses
Succeeded byKrishna Gowandan
1st President General of the Federation of Unions of Sugar Workers and Cane Farmers
In office
1953–1957
Succeeded byHimself
as the 3rd President General of ATSEFWU after FUSWCF merged into ATSEFWU
Personal details
Born
Bhadase Sagan Maraj

(1919-02-19)19 February 1919[4]
Caroni Village, Caroni County, Trinidad and Tobago
Died21 October 1971(1971-10-21) (aged 52)
Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago[5]
Cause of deathSide effects of Pethidine[12]
CitizenshipBritish (1920–1962)
Trinidadian and Tobagonian (1962–d.)
NationalityTrinidadian and Tobagonian
Political partyDemocratic Liberation Party (1971-d.)
Other political
affiliations
Independent (1950-1953; 1967-1971)
Democratic Labour Party (1957-1967)[6]
West Indies Democratic Labour Party (1957-1962)
People's Democratic Party (1953–1957)[7]
Height6 ft (183 cm)
Spouse(s)Vijanti Maraj (div.); 2 other wives
ChildrenShanti Maharaj; along with 7 others
MotherBaboonie Sagan Maraj
FatherMathew Sagan Maraj
RelativesSatnarayan Maharaj (son-in-law)
Palto Persad (father-in-law)[8]
ResidenceChamps Fleurs, Trinidad and Tobago
Alma mater
OccupationPolitician
religious leader
businessman
wrestler
author
Known forFounder of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, Caroni East Indian Association, People's Democratic Party, Democratic Labour Party, and Democratic Liberation Party
Nickname(s)Baba[13]
Big Bhadase
Personal
ReligionHinduism
EthnicityIndian
SectSanātanī
Founder ofSanatan Dharma Maha Sabha and the Caroni East Indian Association
Religious career
GuruPt. Basdeo Misir[14]
Literary worksHostile and Recalcitrant

The Rt Hon. Bhadase Sagan Maraj MP (pronounced [bʰəd̪eːsə səɡənə mərəɟə]; February 19, 1919– October 21, 1971) was a Trinidadian and Tobagonian politician, Hindu leader, civil rights activist, trade unionist, businessman, wrestler, and author. He founded the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha in 1952, which grew into the major Hindu organization in Trinidad and Tobago. He also founded the Caroni East Indian Association, the People's Democratic Party, the Democratic Labour Party, the Democratic Liberation Party, and the Federation of Unions of Sugar Workers and Cane Farmers.

Early life[]

Bhadase Sagan Maraj was born on the 19th of February 1919 into a Brahmin Hindu Indo-Trinidadian family in Caroni Village in the county of Caroni in central Trinidad. His parents were Baboonie and Mathew Sagan Maraj. His father, Matthew Sagan Maraj, was a devout Hindu, the mukhiya (village head) of Caroni Village, and a leader in the Hindu and Indian community of central Trinidad.[15] At the time there was much tension between Hindu and Muslim Indo-Trinidadians in Caroni, and when Maraj was thirteen years old his father had been shot and killed by a Muslim gang while he was on his hammock on the porch of his home reading the Bhagawad Gita.[16][17] His uncle was also killed when a Muslim gang had tied him to a stone and threw him into the Caroni River. After his father's death, Maraj went to live with his aaji (paternal grandmother). Many attempts were made on Maraj's life, so he took up wrestling and by the age of twenty he became an accomplished wrestler. He had attended the Caroni Canadian Mission School[18] and the Pamphylian High School in Tunapuna.[19][20]

Maraj started off to his first million dollars by digging sand for construction purposes in the Caroni River.

This was only the beginning, for soon the young Maraj had bought a truck and was in the transport business. The advent of the Second World War and the arrival of the American Armed Forces in the British colony threw Maraj into the big league.[21]

He was one of the biggest contractors on the American naval base at Chaguaramas and when the order came for the Americans to pull out their task force from that country, Maraj was able to buy out large areas of the base that were being deactivated. Maraj was not yet 30 when he counted his first million dollars. This was a real rags to riches story. From then on there was no stopping him, for Maraj was now equipped to fight the Hindu and Indian cause. When Maraj was elected to the Legislative Council in 1950 there was no Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha. Hindu schools were only a dream and illiteracy among Hindus was about 50%.[citation needed]

Maraj's guru was Pundit Basdeo Misir.[22]

Civil society activism[]

In early 1952, the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha was formed and this organisation was given permission to build and operate their own schools and with his typical bravado, Bhadase declared "By September, we will have six: schools." The cynics laughed because Maha Sabha did not even have a plan for a school but Bhadase was as good as his word. September saw the establishment of six Hindu Schools. The story did not end there for Bhadase had the Hindus mobilised and on the move.

Hindu schools were mushrooming everywhere to the charge that Bhadase was building cowshed schools, which were unhealthy and physically unfit for children to be educated, he declared, "It is better to have a child receive an education in a cowshed than none at all". The then government arranged to assist and fund the building and operations of Hindu and other religious schools in Trinidad and Tobago.

Politics[]

He was elected to the Legislative Council in 1950, founded the People's Democratic Party in 1953, and later merged it into the Democratic Labour Party in 1957, which he led between 1957 and 1960 (when he lost control of the party to Rudranath Capildeo). Bhadase (as he was most widely known) continued to be active in politics until his death, often opposing Capildeo and other members of the DLP. After Capildeo's Chaguanas seat was declared vacant in 1967 Bhadase won the seat in a by-election boycotted by the DLP.

The year 1958 saw Bhadase Maraj at the pinnacle of his glory. He had just won the Federal Election with his newly formed Democratic Labour Party. His sugar union, All Trinidad, was strong and vibrant. The Hindus were now riding high. But the mighty physique of Bhadase soon succumbed to ill health. The strenuous battle of the 1958 Federal Election had by then taken its toll. In 1959, the cry was soon heard, "Bhadase is dying." His supporters deserted him and his opponents rejoiced.

Bhadase was able to survive this first bout of illness but he was never again the same driving and dynamic Hindu force. And when he finally died on 21 October 1971 the headlines screamed, "WILL THE MAHA SABHA SURVIVE BHADASE?"

When the DLP boycotted the 1971 general elections Bhadase organised the Democratic Liberation Party to contest 21 seats in the election. He ran for the Oropouche constituency against George Williams of the PNM. However, all of his party's candidates, including himself, were defeated when the DLP leadership brought out their supporters to vote for the People's National Movement candidates rather than see Bhadase's party win. He died several months after the election. His son-in-law, Satnarayan Maharaj succeeded him as the de facto leader of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha.

Personal life[]

Bhadase Maraj was first married at the age of fifteen to Vijanti Maraj, however the marriage did not last long because Vijanti Maraj's father took her back home fearing for her life due to the constant threat on Bhadase Maraj's life. Maraj was married two more times. He had a total of seven children, including his daughter Shanti Maharaj who was married to Satnarayan Maharaj, who went on to succeed him as the leader of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha. After Satnarayan Maharaj's death in November 2019, Vijay Maharaj, who was the son of Satnarayan Maharaj and grandson of Bhadase Maraj, took over as the acting leader of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha.[23]

Legacy[]

Today after his death, the Maha Sabha to which he devoted so much of his life and personal wealth still lives on trying to provide the Hindu leadership which Maraj gave them during the nineteen-fifties. The greatest obituary to Big Bhadase came from Augustus Ramrekarsingh who wrote in the Trinidad Express on 21 October 1971 "More than any other single individual, Bhadase made the Indians proud of their heritage in a society which was Christian and Afro-Saxon, hence hostile to them."

References[]

  1. ^ https://sta.uwi.edu/uwitoday/archive/august_2018/article12.asp
  2. ^ https://hindisongstt.com/artist_detail.php?id=230
  3. ^ https://hindisongstt.com/artist_detail.php?id=233
  4. ^ https://issuu.com/pariapublishing/docs/50th_independence_besson
  5. ^ http://www.sharedroots.net/ancestors/profiles/213
  6. ^ http://legacy.guardian.co.tt/archives/2008-05-29/features1.html
  7. ^ http://legacy.guardian.co.tt/archives/2008-05-29/features1.html
  8. ^ https://archives.newsday.co.tt/2011/04/25/happy-80th-birthday-sat/
  9. ^ http://caribbeanhistoryarchives.blogspot.com/2011/12/bhadase-sagan-maraj.html?m=1
  10. ^ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1mLEjl8bLo
  11. ^ http://caribbeanhistoryarchives.blogspot.com/2011/12/bhadase-sagan-maraj.html?m=1
  12. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJjJE8Q4TYY
  13. ^ https://wired868.com/2018/02/18/indo-trinis-black-power-bhadase-dr-williams-agreed-issue-indian-african-unity/
  14. ^ "Pandit Basdeo Misir". HindiSongsTT.com. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  15. ^ http://legacy.guardian.co.tt/archives/2008-05-29/features1.html
  16. ^ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1mLEjl8bLo
  17. ^ http://caribbeanhistoryarchives.blogspot.com/2011/12/bhadase-sagan-maraj.html?m=1
  18. ^ http://caribbeanhistoryarchives.blogspot.com/2011/12/bhadase-sagan-maraj.html?m=1
  19. ^ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1mLEjl8bLo
  20. ^ http://caribbeanhistoryarchives.blogspot.com/2011/12/bhadase-sagan-maraj.html?m=1
  21. ^ https://issuu.com/pariapublishing/docs/50th_independence_besson
  22. ^ "Pandit Basdeo Misir". HindiSongsTT.com. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  23. ^ https://newsday.co.tt/2019/11/14/sats-son-to-succeed-in-sdms/

Further reading[]

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