Devant Maharaj

Maharaj remained a member of the Opposition Party of Trinidad and Tobago after the Peoples Partnership (UNC-Led Alliance) lost the 2015 general election.

Maharaj background includes Indo-Trinidadian writer, cultural, social and political activist whose ancestors came from Uttar Pradesh, India in the 1870s to work on the sugar plantations of Trinidad and Tobago as indentured servants.

A prolific writer on Indo-Caribbean issues Maharaj has also been published in several regional and international newspapers including The Jamaica Gleaner, The Barbados Nation, The St. Lucia Star, India Post, Asian Age, BJP Today, Hinduism Today, Indian Express, India Abroad, to name a few.

[citation needed] In August 2006, he left the public service to assume the position of Chief Executive Officer of SDMS’s Radio Jaagriti 102.7 FM.

[citation needed] In November 2007, Devant Maharaj unsuccessfully contested the Couva South constituency for the newly formed Congress of the People led by Winston Dookeran in the General Elections.

[citation needed] In 2002, Maharaj was appointed President of Global Organization for People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) Chapter by the International parent body.

In 2005, GOPIO was successful in court when it took the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad & Tobago for failing to investigate claims that certain radio stations were making anti-Indian and anti-Hindu statements.

In 2004, the International Organization of Caribbean People Inc., (IOCP Inc.) the U.S. based non-profit human rights organization headed by Trinidad born, Maria "Francisca" Seebaran-Dayman, in collaboration with the Center for International Human Rights Advocacy, University of Denver formulated a blueprint petition regarding the crime of kidnapping that was prevalent in Trinidad & Tobago.

This proposed petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights provided for the first time, empirical evidence that Indo-Trinidadians were the primary targets of kidnappers.

Devant Maharaj was the Marketing & Public Relations Officer of the National Lotteries Control Board of Trinidad & Tobago from 1993 to 2004, and Deputy Director, and NLCB since 2004.

Following this victory, the challenges at the NLCB intensified for Maharaj and he had to seek refuge in the courts again, each time contesting issues that impacted upon all public officers of Trinidad & Tobago.

The courts again ruled that Maharaj right to the information requested by public officers should not go through a third party and also that he was unfairly treated by the State in the manner and way in which it made promotions.

In several instances, State agencies and Government Ministries refused to provide Maharaj the information requested citing various reasons.