NCIC head lauds Daaga

His efforts bore fruit and paved the way not only for the two ethnic groups in this country,” Dr Sharma said, outlining that the council joined with the Hindu Prachar Kendra and the Chinmaya Mission to honour the former Caricom Cultural Ambassador, Daaga as part of the 54th anniversary of Independence of Trinidad and Tobago.

“He had at the time managed to unite the two predominant races in our country bridging with some success the gap between them. The unity march not only helped at the time to ease the tensions between the two major races but also stimulated and goaded the Indians towards a stronger resurgence of their own culture,” Sharma said.

Unfortunately, Sharma related, this unity has not grown nor prospered despite the monumental effort lasting 40 years of this chief servant.

“We not only planned the programme as an outreach programme towards cultural rapprochement but also marked significantly the 40th anniversary of the Black Power march to Caroni which asked for Africans and Indians to unite. Daaga, he said, formed his organisation NJAC (National Joint Action Committee) in 1970 as a direct result of the discrimination meted out against Caribbean students at Sir George Williams University (now Concordia) in Montreal, Canada. The audience heard that Daaga along with Dave Darbreau (now Khafra Khambon), Clive Nunez and George Weekes among other activists took to the streets in protest.