Padri Mehar Singh was one of the founding members of Fiji

Fiji

Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...

's Kisan Sangh

Kisan Sangh

Kisan Sangh was the first farmers' union formed in Fiji on 27 November 1937. This was the result of one man's determination to improve the plight of Fiji's Indian cane farmers...

 when it was established in 1937. He remained a prominent member of the union until 1943, when he and Ramcharan Singh led a faction that supported the strike instigated by the rival union, Maha Sangh

Maha Sangh

Akhil Fiji Krishak Maha Sangh was a sugar cane farmers' union formed on 15 June 1941 in opposition to the existing union, the Kisan Sangh. Supporters of Kisan Sangh tried to stop the formation of the Maha Sangh but were unsuccessful. The people responsible for the formation of a second sugar cane...

, led by A.D. Patel

A.D. Patel

Ambalal Dahyabhai Patel, better known as A.D. Patel, was a Fiji Indian politician, farmers' leader and founder and leader of the National Federation Party. Patel was uncompromisingly committed to a vision of an independent Fiji, with full racial integration...

. While most of his supporters rejoined the Kisan Sangh led by Ayodhya Prasad

Ayodhya Prasad

Ayodhya Prasad Sharma was an Indo-Fijian farmers’ leader and politician, who formed the most successful farmers’ union in Fiji and forced the Colonial Sugar Refining Company to make concessions to farmers after 60 years of complete control over Fiji’s economy...

 in 1946, Mehar Singh and his remaining supporters, mainly Sikh

Sikh

A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...

s, formed the Vishal Sangh

Vishal Sangh

Vishal Sangh was a cane farmers union established in Fiji on 1 September 1946, by mainly Sikh farmers, who refused to re-join the Kisan Sangh after its reunification following the split of the Kisan Sangh into two factions in 1943...

. This union with a small support base remained a junior partner to the Maha Sangh from then on.