Vishnu Deo - Second World War

Second World War

During the Second World War, Vishnu Deo advised Fiji Indians to only enlist in the army if they were paid the same wages as Europeans. He was initially appointed to the Central Indian War Committee but had his membership of the Committee terminated when he published a serial record of a meeting of the Committee in his newspaper, the Fiji Samachar. At the meeting most members had expressed the view that Indians could not be expected to enlist unless they were paid the same wages as Europeans. Later Deo, together with other Indian members of the Legislative Council, cooperated in recruiting volunteers for the Indian Civilian Labour Force. In June 1943 he addressed workers from the Ba and Lautoka sugar mills and persuaded some to join the Labour Force at better pay than what they were getting from their employer, the Colonial Sugar Refining Company.