Alienation From The Alliance Party
In the 1972 election, it was clear that Vijay R. Singh was losing favour with the leadership of the Alliance Party, when he was not nominated for his existing safe seat and but was given another (less safe) seat in a constituency where he did not have any political following. He won the election and was made Minister for Housing, Urban Development and Social Welfare. Not happy with this "demotion" he soon resigned as a Minister and resumed private practice. He was then elected Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives. In mid-1975, when the Minister of Education announced that the Government would not subsidize school fees for non-Fijians, Vijay Singh was among its most vocal critics, describing the decision as " deplorable because of its distressingly repellent odour of crude racialism." In 1976, he was elected the Speaker and resigned from the presidency of the Indian Alliance. In June 1976, Vijay R. Singh became the first Indo-Fijian to be knighted by the Queen for his services as a citizen, as a member of parliament, Minister and Speaker.In the 1977 election, he lost the pre-selection for Alliance Party's nomination for his National seat. He then began speaking out publicly on issues affecting the Indian community but accepted nomination for an Indian Communal seat that he could not win.
The Alliance Party still needed him as they needed a qualified lawyer to be the Attorney General. He was appointed to the Senate and given the portfolio of Attorney General and Minister for Economic Development. Differences between him and the Alliance leadership widened and he resigned in 1979. He joined the National Federation Party (NFP), whose leader's moderate style appealed to him, and soon became a key adviser to its leader, Jai Ram Reddy. He won the 1982 election on the NFP ticket in a national constituency in his home town of Ba but his attempts to use foreign media to influence the election backfired and the NFP lost the election.
Read more about this topic: Vijay R. Singh
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