Deposed Fijian Premier a Hero in Indian Village

Jostling crowds, dancers, flags and flowered arches welcomed deposed Fijian Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry on Thursday to the village of his ancestors.

The people of Bhu Jamalpur, who held nightlong vigils and offered prayers during Chaudhry’s eight weeks in rebel captivity in Fiji, finally greeted their hero.

Chaudhry, who was the first ethnic Indian to lead Fiji, is now on an international tour to generate pressure on the new government to restore democracy.

He was treated as a cult figure in the village that his grandfather left in 1912--one of thousands of Indians the British took as indentured servants to Fiji.

The village of thatch-roofed and concrete-block homes was festooned with flowered arches, flags and banners welcoming Chaudhry, who was driven into Bhu Jamalpur with his wife, Viramati.

“I am touched by the tumultuous, spontaneous and heartwarming welcome,” Chaudhry said.

Women in colorful skirts and whose faces were covered by long scarves jostled for a look at Chaudhry.

The receptions and meetings in Haryana state, west of New Delhi, brought Chaudhry sadness and joy.

“Joy because I have been hailed as a son of Haryana,” he said. “Sadness because it is happening in such unfortunate circumstances.”

Shortly after his election and inauguration as the head of a multiracial government on Fiji, Chaudhry was toppled by businessman George Speight in hostage crisis that began May 19.

Speight released Chaudhry and other government officials held hostage only after the president and the military agreed to laws that removed equal rights for Fijians of Indian heritage.

Speight is now under arrest on an island prison, and Chaudhry is asking members of the Commonwealth to pressure the government to reinstate the constitution and restore democracy.

He has visited New Zealand and Australia. After India, he will travel to Britain.

Today, Chaudhry was to meet in New Delhi with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh. The Indian government still regards him as Fiji’s prime minister.

While Chaudhry was held hostage, Vajpayee met with Chaudhry’s relatives and appealed for Commonwealth pressure to free him. The relatives greeted Chaudhry at the airport on his arrival Wednesday night.

Chaudhry was welcomed to Haryana state by schoolchildren waving flags, and he received an honorary doctorate from the Maharashi Dayanand University.

“I’m accepting this degree with pride and regret, regret that this could not have happened in happier times for Fiji,” Chaudhry said.

“Chaudhry is fighting an arduous battle for restoring democracy,” Haryana’s chief minister, Prakash Chautala, said at the ceremony. “We want him to know that we fully support him.”