Mr. Rarakha

embittered

From a Suva correspondent Fiji’s Opposition Whip, and general secretary of the Opposition National Federation party, mercurial Karam Ramrakha, 39, in September resigned from these posts, plus nine others, with characteristic flamboyance.

“K.C.”—who has long aspired to leadership of the NFP now held by Mr Siddiq Koya—announced his resigna tion over radio Fiji, at the same time giving an unexpected resume of grievances about his own “misunder stood” position with his colleagues, and that of Fiji’s “politically and economically isolated” Indian com munity. He drew a tear-jerking picture of racial inequality of the kind that nobody has heard since independence (since when the government, and Mr Koya, have been stressing the obvious virtues of racial harmony).

He talked of increasing intolerance towards Fiji’s Indians, who, he said, were sitting on sand, with no real stake in the economy; doomed to eternal opposition because of voting patterns which showed little sign of change.

“The so-called booming economy, the rise in salaries of the middle and upper-class artisans and clerical workers give all a false impression of economic growth and belie the real dangers that beset us,” said Mr Ram rakha. “We are faced with false festivals, false forums, false facades, which conceal the real basic problem.”

He told of lack of sympathy for what he was attempting to do by some members of the electorate, by his political colleagues and by the execu tive of the Fiji Teachers’ Union, of which he was president (a position which he has also resigned).

Mr Ramrakha will not resign his seat in parliament or resign from the

Nfp.

Mr Ramrakha’s leader, Mr Koya, seemed unperturbed by the resigna tion. He said it was a “normal hap pening’ in a democratic party, and the party would suffer no adverse effects.

It was generally conceded that one of Mr Ramrakha’s reasons for resig nation was his continued failure to get support enough for leadership.

As the Fiji Times said in an editorial, “There is always something a little embarrassing about public displays about personal hurts, but Mr Ramrakha would have gained, and deserved, much sympathy if he had not accompanied his confession of failure by an intemperate parade of unreal racial grievances”.