During the early days of the National Federation Party, some women were vocal and actively involved in politics.
They made true the popular adage, “Behind every successful man is a woman”.
Three such women were featured in The Fiji Times of June 21, 1982, and were fondly called the “three mothers” of NFP.
They were staunch NFP supporters – Lila Patel, Eunice Madhavan and Amina Koya.
They appealed to supporters of the NFP-WUF (Western United Front led by Ratu Osea Gavidi) coalition not to let religion or race interfere with the unity of the party in the 1982 elections.
The three spoke at a coalition meeting at the Vunimono School in Nausori.
“We are all one nation. The choice of our birth is not our own. It is not in our hands to change the Holy Bible, the Holy Quran or the Holy Ramayan,” Mrs Madhavan told an audience of about 300 people.
“We cannot change that by political slogans or government resolutions. All religions are equal and have the blessings of the Almighty God.” She said religion and politics were two different things and should be kept separate. Mrs Patel challenged the coalition to stand united.
“Today the NFP-WUF coalition is a multi-racial party and we can bind together race, colour and prejudice, all three to form one nation,’ Mrs Patel told the meeting.
“Today our party is united and people join us freely. But the Alliance says this tree has never borne fruit. If our tree is not strong why then are they so scared of us? There must be something in the tree that is scaring them.”
She said 12 years of Alliance’s rule had not brought about real change as Fijians, who owned most of the land, were still poor and wealth was not distributed equally.”
Stressing on the history of NFP, Mrs Koya said the NFP was the first political party to be formed in Fiji and their victory in 1977, despite being unable to form government, demonstrated the party’s strength. “Although we were not allowed to form a government then, we have not lost courage and will try again,” she said.
The “three mothers” of NFP were wives of founding fathers of the party – A.D. Patel, S.M.Koya and J.V.Madhavan.
