Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam (in traditional Hindi: Shivsagar Ram Gulam) (18 September 1900 – 15 December 1985; often referred to as Chacha Ramgoolam or SSR) was a Mauritian physician, politician, and statesman. He served as the island's only chief minister, first prime minister, and fifth governor-general. He is widely recognized as the nation's founding father (French: père de la nation), although the anti-independence political group at the time of British Mauritius used to call him as a pun in French la perte de la nation (English: the misleader of the nation). After Guy Rozemont's death in 1956, Ramgoolam became the leader of the Labour Party of Mauritius till his death in 1985. According to Dr. A. G. Wilkins, post-doctoral researcher in contemporary Indian Ocean islands history at the University of Michigan LSA, regardless of what detractors say, Sir Shivsagar was a man of exceptional tenacity, wisdom and courage. He possessed a lion's personality and was the most respected leader of his time from the Indian Ocean islands. His leadership style was "nationalistic-progressive typical of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, with the principles of Kemalism further complemented by elements of universal brotherhood as professed by M.L.K. Jr." Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam's son, Dr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam, served as the third and fifth prime minister of Mauritius. Early life Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, also known as Kewal, was born on 18 September 1900 at Belle Rive, Mauritius, in the district of Flacq in a Hindu Indo-Mauritian family. His father, Moheeth Ramgoolam was Indian immigrant labourer who belonged to Kurmi caste. Moheeth came to Mauritius aged 18 in a ship called The Hindoostan in 1896. His elder brother, Ramlochurn, had left the home village of Harigaon in the Bhojpur district of Bihar in search of his fortune abroad. Moheeth worked as an indentured labourer and later became a Sirdar (overseer) at Queen Victoria Sugar Estate. When he married Basmati Ramchurn in 1898, he moved to Belle Rive Sugar Estate. Basmati was a young widow born in Mauritius. She already had two sons: Nuckchadee Heeramun and Ramlall Ramchurn. Ramgoolam had his early grounding in Bhojpuri, Indian culture and philosophy, in the local evening school of the locality (called Baitka in Mauritian Hindu term), where children of the Hindu community learnt the vernacular language and glimpses of the Hindu culture. The teacher (guruji) would teach prayers and songs. Sanskrit prayers and perennial values taken from sacred scriptures like the Vedas, the