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Dev Virahsawmy
Elected member of Legislative Assembly (Constituency No. 5 Pamplemousses-Triolet)
In office
1970–1972
Personal details
Born(1942-03-16)16 March 1942
Quartier-Militaire, British Mauritius
Died7 November 2023(2023-11-07) (aged 81)
Rose Hill, Mauritius
Political partyMMM, MMMSP, Parti Travailliste
Alma materUniversity of Edinburgh

Dev Virahsawmy (16 March 1942[1] – 7 November 2023) was a Mauritian politician, playwright, poet and advocate of the Mauritian Creole language. Though he wrote easily in both French and English, Virahsawmy was most renowned for his efforts to popularise the use of Creole.[2]

Early life

Virahsawmy was born in Quartier-Militaire, Mauritius on 16 March 1942.[3] He spent his early childhood in Goodlands but after the death of his mother he went to live with his grandparents at Beau-Bassin.[4] He started his secondary schooling at Collège St-Joseph in Curepipe and was relieved to be able to complete the final years of his schooling at Royal College Port Louis, after enduring intense racism and bullying at Collège St-Joseph at the hands of racist Franco-Mauritians and Coloureds. Virahsawmy then travelled to Scotland to study languages, literature and linguistics at the Edinburgh University.[5][6]

Dev Virahsawmy's father Simadree was a minister of the Labour Party who later defected to rival party MTD. Former MMM minister Jayen Cuttaree was Dev Virahsawmy's brother-in-law.[7]

Political career

Between 1968 and 1973, Virahsawmy was a politician and one of the three leaders of the Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM).[8] On 22 September 1970, he became the first member of the MMM to be elected to the Legislative Assembly by winning the vacant seat at by-elections held in Constituency No. 5 (Pamplemousses-Triolet). These by-elections resulted from the untimely death in office of former Attorney General Lall Jugnauth who had been duly elected in Constituency No. 5 at the 1967 General Elections under the Independence Party/IFB banner. Virahsawmy conceded that his victory at the 1970 by-elections was not because rural voters liked the newly-formed MMM, a party founded by urban idealists. Instead he attributed the MMM's first electoral victory solely to voters' desperation to express their anger and disappointment towards Seewoosagur Ramgoolam and Gaetan Duval who formed an alliance in 1969 simply to allow Ramgoolam to stay in power after Bissoondoyal's IFB had deserted Ramgoolam's government, and UDM had splintered out of the PMSD. A few months earlier Ramgoolam and Duval had bitterly fought against each other during the pre-independence 1967 electoral campaign. However, Paul Bérenger disagreed with Virahsawmy's analysis and instead started to dream about the MMM's future electoral victories nationwide, especially by the aggressive application of identity politics.[9]

Throughout the year 1971 the MMM worked closely with trade unions to ramp up its campaign of nationwide strikes, violent thugs of the PMSD attacked Virahsawmy's house with Molotov cocktails.[10]

In early 1972 Virahsawmy was jailed at the National Intelligence Unit (NIU)'s political prison within the Police compounds of Line Barracks in Port Louis for refusing to pay a fine for "contempt of court" after making public comments regarding the Labour-PMSD-CAM regime's handling of strike actions. The prison officers provided Virahsawmy with custom-made prisoner's uniforms with long sleeves in order to conceal his atrophied left arm, which resulted from a Poliovirus infection during his childhood. During his stay in prison Virahsawmy still had to appear in court as a key witness of the Azor Adelaide murder case. Although he resigned from the Legislative Assembly in 1972 to protest against his imprisonment, by-elections were not held in Constituency No. 5.[11]

On 23 March 1973, Virahsawmy left the MMM and formed his new party Mouvement Militant Mauricien Socialiste Progressiste (MMMSP), which also became known as MMM sans Paul (MMM without Paul).[12][13]

With the help of Peter Craig, Alan Ganoo, Alain Laridon and Showkutally Soodhun, Virahsawmy founded the trade union movement called Federation Des Travailleurs Unis (FTU) to assist textile workers to bargain for higher wages and better working conditions.[14]

In 1978 most of the leaders of MMMSP, including Virahsawmy, returned to the MMM but by 1983 they had left the MMM again in order to support the coaliton of MSM-Labour-PMSD led by Anerood Jugnauth and Gaetan Duval, especially during the 1983 elections. Virahsawmy designed the official symbol for the newly-formed party MSM in the form of a golden sun on a white background.[15] He became Cultural Advisor in the new MSM-PTr government, but as his passion to promote Kreol as a national language was not supported by the government, Virahsawmy left whilst Soodhun stayed within the MSM government.[16][17]

Activities after leaving politics

After leaving politics he concentrated on playwriting. He was associated with the early protest theatre in Mauritius.[18]

Virahsawmy was married to Loga Virahsawmy, a feminist and chairperson of Gender and Media Southern Africa.[19] Virahsawmy died on 7 November 2023, at the age of 81.[20]

Works

Dev Virahsawmy had produced an estimated 4000 literary documents according to his wife Loga Virahsawmy at the time of his funeral. Virahsawmy also bequeathed all copyright to his works to the Catholic Church's Institut Cardinal Jean Margéot (ICJM). About 3000 of the 4000 documents are poems. He wrote original works in Morisyen (Mauritian Creole) and also translated a large number of publications from English and French to Morisyen.[21]

Drama

Poetry

Prose

Novels

Essays

Articles

Translations and adaptations by Dev Virahsawmy

Source:[22]

in Morisien

Translations

In English

in French

Influence

Some of the lyrics of Ziskakan are from early poems by Virahsawmy.[23]

References

  1. ^ "Ezop Pou Zanfan Lekol".
  2. ^ "Encyclopædia Britannica Online - Dev-Virahsawmy". britannica.com. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  3. ^ "VIRAHSAWMY, Dev (LITERATURE)".
  4. ^ "Dev Virahsawmy". Île en île. 4 June 2004.
  5. ^ Daby, Pradeep. "Livre - Loga raconte Dev, le marxiste-athée devenu chrétien". Defimedia. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
  6. ^ "Interview : Dernie dialog avek Dev Virahsawmy (1)". Le Mauricien. 16 October 2023. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  7. ^ Oodunt, Sunil. "Oui aux noms!". L'Express. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
  8. ^ Melidor, Laëtitia (19 December 2016). "Dev Virahsawmy: Le MMM et le MSM, deux partis néolibéraux". L'Express. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  9. ^ "Dernie dialog avek Dev Virahsawmy (suite et fin)". Le Mauricien. 23 October 2023. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
  10. ^ Virahsawmy, Loga (3 June 2017). The Lotus Flower, A conversation with Dev Virahsawmy. Mauritius: Caractère Ltée. p. 51. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  11. ^ Virahsawmy, Loga (3 June 2017). The Lotus Flower, A conversation with Dev Virahsawmy. Mauritius: Caractère Ltée. p. 54. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  12. ^ Laurent, Thierry. "Dev Virahsawmy, l'engagement en héritage". Defimedia. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  13. ^ "Il y a 42 ans: Li de Dev Virahsawmy embarrasse la censure". www.lexpress.mu. L'Express. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  14. ^ Ahmed Khan, Iqbal. "Controversy: Soodhun's curious diplomacy with the Saudi Kingdom". L'Express. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  15. ^ Shillington, Kevin (1991). Jugnauth: Prime Minister of Mauritius. London: Macmillan. p. 135. ISBN 0-333-55224-5. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
  16. ^ Ahmed Khan, Iqbal. "Controversy: Soodhun's curious diplomacy with the Saudi Kingdom". L'Express. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  17. ^ Hilbert, Patrick. "Le Soley Ruz de Dev Virahsawmy". Defimedia. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  18. ^ Banham, Martin. A history of theatre in Africa. p. 410.
  19. ^ "www.winmauritius.net". Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
  20. ^ "Décès de Dev Virahsawmy". Le Mauricien. 8 November 2023. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  21. ^ Groëme-Harmon, Aline (13 November 2023). "Dev Virahsawmy : monument de la littérature haut de 4000 documents". L'Express. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
  22. ^ Groëme-Harmon, Aline (13 November 2023). "Dev Virahsawmy : monument de la littérature haut de 4000 documents". L'Express. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
  23. ^ Banham, Martin. A history of theatre in Africa. p. 425.
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