Background
Bhadase Maraj was born in Trinidad & Tobago in 1919. he was the son of a leader of a Hindu faction in the sugar belt.
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BHADASE SAGAN MARAJ
Edit ProfileEducation
Was only minimally educated, but he amassed a fortune after World War II through disposal of surplus war goods from American military bases on the island.
Career
He was first elected to political office in 1950, as an independent. In 1953 he formed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and by 1955 it was the best organized and most powerful political organization in the country. In 1953 Maraj became president general of the Federation of Sugar Workers and Cane Farmers, which represented the sugar workers of the country, the majority of whom were Hindus.
Postponement of general elections from 1955 to 1956 allowed the formation and consolidation of the Peoples National Movement (PNM) under Dr. Eric Williams. The emergence of this party, the economically and politically conservative policies of Maraj, and his strong Hindu identity resulted in deteat of the PDP in the elections of 1956.
Cognizant of his narrow political base. Maraj agreed to enter into an alliance for the 1958 elections for the West Indies Parliament. This effort, initiated by Sir William Alexander Bustamante of Jamaica, was a confederation of national parties within the Parliament of the West Indies Federation. Maraj entered the new Trinidadian unit, the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), of the confederal coalition.
Maraj left the DLP in 1971 to form the Democratic Liberation Party. He decided to contest the elections called in 1971 by a government recovering from a period of intense civil opposition, when almost all the rest of the political opposition called for a boycott of the elections. Maraj’s political demise was made evident when his new party garnered support from only 4.22 percent of registered voters.
Achievements
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Giving liberal financial support to the poor, initiating and financing Hindu schools and temples, organizing Hindu festivals, and lending his support to striking East Indian workers, Maraj acquired a huge following of loyal supporters and admirers.
Although Maraj did not hold an executive position in the “new" DLP, it was clear that his followers were the most powerful element in the Trinidadian coalition. An extremely strong showing among the rural Hindu population won the DLP six of ten Trinidad seats in the federal Parliament. By early 1958 he and the PDP had almost full control of the DLP, and the party was recognized as the official Opposition in the Trinidadian Parliament. Maraj was unanimously elected parliamentary head of the DLP.
Although Maraj’s power to mobilize the Hindu rural masses was legendary, his exclusively Hindu identity was too narrow to mount a successful national campaign, in view of the multiethnic character of the DLP leadership. In addition, his reliance on machine politics and patronage was a political embarrassment to many of his colleagues, while his lack of education and social and intellectual sophistication proved anathema to the middle classes, both East Indian and non¬East Indian, who were potential DLP supporters. Severe illness in 1959 made him relatively inactive, with long periods of absence from Parliament. This permitted malcontents in the DLP to organize his ouster. Dr. Rudranath tapildeo accepted an offer to become leader of the party.
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Born
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Died
1971 (aged 51) -
Nationality
Trinidad &Tobago -
Ethnicity
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Political Party
Democratic Labour Party