Muniswamy Mudaliar

Muniswamy Mudaliar (1890–1942) was an Indo-Fijian politician who served in Fiji’s Legislative Council from 1932 to 1937. Born in India, he worked as a teacher in Ceylon before moving to Fiji in 1916 to work in agriculture. He became the president of the Madras Sangam, which established the largest Indian school in Fiji.

In 1932, Mudaliar was elected to the Legislative Council after being nominated by K. B. Singh, who had been tasked with pushing for a motion demanding equal electoral rights (common roll) for Indo-Fijians alongside Europeans. The motion was seconded by Mudaliar but later withdrawn at the Governor’s request. Despite this, Mudaliar continued to advocate for common roll and introduced another motion in 1934, which was defeated. This led to changes in the Legislative Council structure, increasing its size and combining election and nomination processes.

Mudaliar opposed Vishnu Deo’s boycott of the Council but supported Singh’s efforts to secure rights for Indo-Fijians. In recognition of his contributions, he was appointed Fiji’s first Indo-Fijian Justice of Peace in 1933. He did not stand for re-election in 1937 and later died on 23 December 1942 in Suva.