Shania Shayal Prasad 
Anirudh Kuver [Source: Fiji Government/ Facebook]
A direct descendant of a Girmitiya is urging young Fijians to remember the sacrifices and resilience of indentured labourers who helped build the foundation of the country’s economy.
97-year-old Anirudh Kuver, who is a retired lawyer and former parliamentarian, says the values passed down by his father, who arrived in Fiji under the indenture system in 1905, shaped his journey from a rural teacher to a successful legal practitioner.
Kuver recalls his father’s migration from Jaunpur, India, to Fiji at the age of 18 under a five-year indenture contract with the Colonial Sugar Refining Company.
Kuver says this focus on education transformed their lives.
“But my father would say, rice can rot on the farm, sugarcane can rot on the farm, and it doesn’t matter. Nobody must miss school. The kids must go to school five days a week, without fail. That’s how he got us educated. We became bad farmers, but good lawyers, good doctors, and good accountants.”
Kuver says he also taught at DAV College before pursuing law studies in Australia.
He later returned to Fiji and established a law firm in Lautoka in 1966, where he worked for nearly three decades.
He says financial hardship was one of the biggest obstacles when he was young, but his father made sure education was non-negotiable, even if it meant letting crops rot in the field.
Kuver says Fiji’s indentured labour history, while often described as semi-slavery, carried the legacy of dignity and resilience, and that spirit should continue to inspire future generations.
The 2025 Girmit Day celebration will be held in Labasa from tomorrow till Monday.
The theme for this year’s celebration is “Preserving the Past, Envisioning the Future”.
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