Island marks Indians’ arrival
WHILE almost 1.3 million South Africans of Indian descent continue to wait for an official monument from the government to honour the arrival of their indentured labourer forebears 157 years ago, the island nation of Grenada officially declared Indian Arrival Day as part of its May Day celebrations on Monday.
This is to recognise the Caribbean country’s Indian population.
Malan Padayachee, Africa co-ordinator for the New Yorkbased Indian Diaspora Council (IDC), said he received the news from Ashook Ramswaran, president of the IDC in the US, that the senate in Grenada had declared Indian Arrival Day as an official celebration after the historic timeline was first recognised in 2009.
The Indo-Grenada Heritage Foundation had installed a plaque at Irwin Bay where a total of 3 200 Indian labourers had arrived during this period.
“Ahead of the 160 years milestone of indentureship in South Africa in 2020, of the arrival of 347 indentured labourers who set foot on the shores of Durban on November 16, 1860, this is both extraordinary and exciting news that Grenada has taken a quantum leap to officially recognise the contribution of Indians to the economy and social and political life of this island state,” said Padayachee, who is also a life member of the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (Gopio International).
He said the latest breakthrough in the IDC’s ongoing campaigns to encourage foreign governments to recognise the contribution of indentured sugar cane workers, who were shipped to colonised territories, including South Africa, Mauritius and the Seychelles, follows on the back of the success of Gopio International to have an official stamp for Hindus’ annual Diwali celebration printed by the American government, with the endorsement of outgoing US president Barack Obama last year.
According to Ramswaran, Grenada Culture Minister Brenda Hood had informed the IDC that the island’s Labour Day and the Indian Arrival Day would be added to the country’s bank holidays.
This year marks 160 years since the first Indians arrived from Calcutta on board the SS Maidstone, which anchored at Irwin Bay, St Patrick’s, on May 1, 1857.
Grenada celebrated the centenary in 1957.
“The hosting of the recent IDC conference in Trinidad and Tobago is set to trigger the agenda to recognise the history and heritage of indentured labour in many British colonies, and the focus will shift to shared histories and legacies in the Indian Ocean Rim and South Africa,” Padayachee said.