Hinduism in Fiji
The indentured laborers were poor, escaping famines and poverty during the British colonial rule of India, and brought to Fiji as part of a wave that saw human migration as cheap labor from India, China and southeast Asian countries to plantations and mining operations in the Pacific Islands, Africa, Caribbean and South American nations.
[3] A colleague of Gandhi, A. D. Patel led independence initiative in Fiji, demanding civil rights for all Fijians.
[4] After a period of persistent persecution from 1980s and several coups, which included burning of Hindu homes, arson of temples and rape, Fiji witnessed a wave of emigration of Hindus and other Indo-Fijians to Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Canada and India.
[16] From late 1980s through early 2000s, Fiji witnessed several coups and considerable communal unrest, where some Hindus faced persecution.
Plantation settlements in Fiji, as a policy, considered Indo-Fijian Hindus as a worker class, and did not allow them to live near or with European settlers,[25] nor mix with native Fijian people.
[5] During the time of colonial rule, all the indigenous Fijians were proselytised and converted en masse to Christianity (mostly Methodism) by missionaries from Europe, mainly the British Isles.
John Kelly suggests[18] that this may reflect socio-political situation in Fiji, the segregation faced by Hindus as they demanded equal political rights with European residents and native Fijian people.
[18] Among the Hindus of Fiji, any kind of work including physical labor in farms, is culturally considered a form of puja (prayer) and religious offering.
These served as venues for marriages, annual religious festivals, family prayers after the death of loved ones, and other social events.
[32] In addition to temples, Hindus built schools and community centers to improve the social and educational opportunities.
Over 5,000 Hindus in Fiji served with millions of soldiers from Australia, New Zealand, India and other British colonies during the war.
By the time Fiji gained independence from the British colonial empire, Hindus and other Indo-Fijians constituted nearly fifty-percent of the total Fijian population.
Nevertheless, the colonial era laws and the first constitution for Fiji, granted special rights to native Fijians.
[4][34] The difference in human rights has been a continuing source of conflict between "native" Fijians and Indo-Fijians, with native Fijians believing Fiji to be their ancestral land that only they can own, and Indo-Fijians demanding equal rights for all human beings.
In the spring of 2000, the democratically elected Fijian government led by Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry was held hostage by a group headed by George Speight.
They demanded a segregated state exclusively for the native Fijians, thereby legally abolishing any human rights the Hindu inhabitants have.
