Basdeo Panday
Basdeo Panday | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| बसदेव पाण्डे | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Panday in 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5th Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 9 November 1995 – 24 December 2001 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| President | Noor Hassanali A. N. R. Robinson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Patrick Manning | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Patrick Manning | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 25 May 1933 Coonook, St. Julien, Princes Town, Trinidad and Tobago | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 1 January 2024 (aged 90) Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | United National Congress (from 1989; nominally) Patriotic Front (from 2020) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Spouse(s) | Norma Mohammed (died 1981) Oma Ramkissoon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 4, including Mickela | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Relatives | Subhas Panday (brother) Sam Boodram (brother-in-law) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Education | Presentation College, San Fernando | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Awards | Pravasi Bharatiya Samman (2005) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | The Silver Fox | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Basdeo Panday (pronounced [bɑːsəd̪eːoː pɑːⁿɖeː]; 25 May 1933 – 1 January 2024) was a Trinidadian statesman, lawyer, politician, trade unionist, economist, and actor, who served as the fifth prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago from 1995 to 2001. He was the first person of Indian descent, along with being the first Hindu, to hold the office of prime minister.
Panday was first elected to Parliament in 1976 as the Member for Couva North, Panday served as Leader of the Opposition four times between 1976 and 2010 and was a founding member of the United Labour Front (ULF), the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR), and the United National Congress (UNC). He served as leader of the ULF and UNC, and was President General of the All Trinidad Sugar and General Workers' Trade Union from 1973 to 1995.
He was the chairman and party leader of the United National Congress. In 2006, Panday was convicted of failing to declare a bank account in London and imprisoned; however, on 20 March 2007, that conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal. On 1 May he decided to resign as chairman of the United National Congress, but the party's executive refused to accept his resignation. He lost the party's internal elections on 24 January 2010, to deputy leader and future prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
In 2005, he was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs.