Seewoosagur Ramgoolam

Common card · No. 245781

Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam (18 September 1900 – 15 December 1985), often known as SSR or Chacha ("uncle"), was a Mauritian physician and statesman who led Mauritius to independence from the United Kingdom. He was the colony's chief minister from 1961 and premier from 1964, the first prime minister of independent Mauritius from 1968 to 1982, and governor-general from 1983 until his death. He is widely known in Mauritius as the "Father of the Nation". The son of an indentured labourer from Bihar, Ramgoolam was born in a village in eastern Mauritius. He studied medicine in London, where he joined the Fabian Society and Indian nationalist circles and met Mahatma Gandhi. After returning home in 1935 he became a leader of the Indo-Mauritian community, co-founded the newspaper Advance and was nominated to the colony's Council of Government in 1940. Elected to the Legislative Council in 1948, he became the leader of the Labour Party group in the council and, by 1958, of the party itself. He campaigned...

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