Mahendra Chandra Vinod (1922 – 2003) was a Fijian civil servant and editor who was also a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

. He was born in Nacokaika, Naitasiri, Fiji and was of Indian descent. After completing his

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

from the

University of Hawaii A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

and Diploma in Journalism from New Delhi, joined the Fiji civil service. He retired from the civil service in 1979 and became the editor of the Hindi language newspaper, ''

Shanti Dut ''Shanti Dut'' (Peaceful Messenger) is a Hindi language newspaper published weekly in Suva, Fiji and is owned by Mahendra Motibhai Patel. It is one of the oldest non-English language newspapers owned by the corporation having started in 1935. Its ...

'' in 1981. In August 1981, he was awarded an

Imperial Service Order The Imperial Service Order was established by King Edward VII in August 1902. It was awarded on retirement to the administration and clerical staff of the Civil Service throughout the British Empire for long and meritorious service. Normally a pe ...

(ISO) from

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

for his contribution to Fiji. For the 1987 general election, the

NFP–Labour Coalition Political parties established in 1987 Political parties disestablished in 1987 NFP–Labour Coalition was the coalition of the National Federation Party and Fiji Labour Party under the leadership of Timoci Bavadra, formed in 1987 to contest th ...

chose him as a candidate for the Nausori/Levuka Indian Communal Constituency which he won easily, but was a member of Parliament for a month when the military coup of 1987 put a halt to his late entry into politics.

References

Fijian Hindus National Federation Party politicians Indian members of the House of Representatives (Fiji) 1921 births 2003 deaths Politicians from Nausori Companions of the Imperial Service Order Fijian expatriates in the United States Fijian expatriates in India {{fiji-politician-stub