At 32 he became the youngest mayor in the country when he was elected the mayor of Ba.[1] In the 1987 general election for the House of Representatives, he won the North Eastern National Constituency for the National Federation Party - Fiji Labour Party coalition, defeating the sitting Alliance Party candidate by 12,786 votes to 9,946.[2] He became Minister for Communications, Transport and Works in the month-long Bavadra government.[3]
Following the 1987 Fijian coups d'état, he immigrated to New Zealand,[4] and now lives in Auckland New Zealand.[5] As of March 2019 he is the chairman of Mt Roskill Masjid E Umar; the largest mosque in New Zealand.[6]
At an Auckland rally organised by "Love Aotearoa Hate Racism", a video emerged of Bhamji accusing Mossad, the intelligence agency of Israel, for the Christchurch massacre of Muslims. Bhamji offered no proof for his speculation.[7][8] The New Zealand Human Rights Commission commented on the matter, saying that "Prejudice against Jewish people has no place in New Zealand" and "We must condemn racism, hate and anti-Semitism whenever we see it".[9] Mustafa Farouk, president of Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand, released a statement saying "recent comments by an individual do not represent the views of the Muslims of New Zealand".[10][11]