Ami Chandra - His Legacy

His Legacy

On 16 March 1954, only three days after his death, the Fiji Industria Workers Congress, of which he was the President, set up and opened a fund to erect a building in his emory on the family land in Samabula, Suva (but a building was constructed for this purpose by the Arya Pratinhdhi Sabah of Fiji.

On 28 August 1956, during the Arya Samaj Golden Jubilee celebrations, he was posthumously awarded with the Dayanand Medal for Meritorious Service.

In 1957, the people of Tawakubu, Lautoka honoured him by establishing a primary school, which in his honour was named, the Ami Chandra Memorial School.

He was a man of great scholarship and humility and when he died in a plane crash in Singapore, on 13 March 1954, on his way to England as the guest of the British Trades Union Congress, Fiji Indians suffered a great loss as he was also being touted as a future successor to Vishnu Deo. Reporting his death, the Fiji Times stated that, "He was a good citizen, wise in counsel, wide in sympathy, lofty in ideals and one who gave himself to the service of his fellow men."

Chandra was married to Sarvati Deviji and had four daughters; Saroj, Jyan, Pushpa and Om.