President gives hope to Indians

President Maxwell Richards Indian Arrival Day address on Thursday May 29, 2003 at the headquarters of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha gave the Indo-Trinidadian community hope that all in positions of power are not bent on a pogrom against Indians. The media virtually ignored President Maxwell Richards’ speech substance, instead focusing on a selected part. It is also interesting to note that Prime Minister Manning opted not to give an Indian Arrival Day address despite previously indicating that such an address would be given. The Prime Minister’s address to be delivered at the Maha Sabha headquarters was instead given at another Indian organisation’s Indian Arrival celebrations without any changes, thereby revealing its original intent. The Prime Minister in essence with one speech insulted two different Indian audiences — one where it was not delivered and the other where it was. The reason submitted by the Prime Minister — the protocol of not speaking when the President speaks is vacuous and insults the intelligent.

In his memorable address, the President gave support to the concept of Indian Arrival Day although there are many who will like to alter the name to Arrival Day. The President remembered “The first celebration of Indian Arrival that I can remember, took place one hundred years after the docking of the “Fatel Razack,” On May 30, 1945, “the greatest concourse of Indians ever to have assembled in Trinidad, 20,000 growing to 30,000 by the afternoon, met in Skinner Park (a former sugar plantation), to celebrate the centenary of their domicile in the colony. “Shops and stores in Port-of-Spain, n Fernando and other centres were closed, and there was half-day closing of Government Departments. It was a national holiday long before any Government thought of declaring Indian Arrival Day a national holiday.”

On the difference between nationality and ethnicity or being Trinidadian vs being Indian, President Richards was in line with the Indo-Trinidadian point of view: “I see no contradiction between being a Caribbean person and being a practising Hindu or Muslim or Roman Catholic. There are differences, but a person of Indian origin is just as much a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago as a person of African or Chinese origin. We can only say we have arrived when this idea is an instinctive and deeply felt conviction.” The President declared: “I opted to talk to you and to myself about the meaning for Trinidad and Tobago of the balance between  two elements in the lives of most of our citizens of Indian origin. On the one hand, we find devotion to the substance and to the evolving forms of their culture and religion. On the other, there is a nationalistic commitment to the social, cultural and economic development of Trinidad and Tobago.”

The Committee to be formed by the President to improve Race Relations has been the only element in the President’s address that caught the media’s attention. The President declared “We have a lot of work and a lot of thinking to do to get to know one another and ourselves better. To this end I am happy to let you know that before long I shall be appointing a President’s Committee to develop strategies for unearthing such knowledge and presenting it systematically to the national community over a sustained period of twelve months.” Following up on the formation of this committee, a reporter misquoted the President’s suggesting that the Race Relations Committee was investigative in nature — which it is not. In responding to the reporter’s question about the establishment of the committee, Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday who obviously had not heard the speech, said: “Where has he been living all these years? The President does not know that racism is taking place in this country? It is there for everybody to see. He should have condemned racism in this country.”  Panday continued: “He has to set up a committee to find out if there is racism in this country? And he is giving that committee 12 months to find that out? Not even the President has the courage to speak about the racism and the discrimination taking place in this country under the PNM.”

The truth is that the President was speaking out against racism and proposing a programme of education aimed at making the different groups in the country know more about each other. Replete in the President’s address was the theme for understanding between the major ethnic groups of each other as a possible solution for harmony. The ignorance that each ethnic group enjoys is cause for concern. Especially with regards to the Indo-Trinidadian history, President Richards laments, “Why have we taken so long to find out about these things? ... This balance is really about achieving unity while making room for diversity.” The President also showed that he understood the importance of the issue of Caroni to the Indo-Trinidadian. Salman Rushdie described the connectivity between the land and the Indian best when he wrote, “Land, home, belonging: to Indians these words have always felt more than ordinarily potent. India is a continent of deeply rooted peoples. Indians don’t just own the ground beneath their feet; it owns them, too.” (“The Age in Idi Amin’s footsteps: Fiji’s racist dilemma”, Jun 10 2000). 

President Richards repeated this sacred link with the land and Indians can see its relevance in light of the Caroni crisis when he stated, “Sugar and Rice and all that grew from their labouring hands were creating a practical and sacred bond between peoples of Indian origin and the land. Trinidad became their karma bhoomi, where honest work brought forth rich fruit. But Trinidad was also their janam bhoomi, the land of their birth.” Should the words of President Maxwell Richards be followed by action then the Indo-Trinidadian community can be assured that they will be a sanctuary and empathy in the office of the President. Indeed if the President adopts a similar message and action to other groups in society, the Office of the President may indeed become the bridge to unite our nation’s differing ethnic factions.