B.S. Rai, iconic political figure dating back to pre-independence years has passed away
Balram Singh Rai would have been 101 next month. Unfortunately, he departed the physical world a few days ago in Oxford, England. Word of his passing was brought to my attention from a friend. Rai served the PPP government as the Minister of Community Development and Education and as Guyana’s first Minister of Home Affairs in the pre-independence period. As the official biographer of Mr. Rai, kindly allow me the opportunity to rekindle and share with readers what I had previously written as a tribute to him in SN (Feb 6, 2021) a year ago on the remarkable accomplishment of becoming a centenarian:
“Balram Singh Rai will be 100 years old on February 8. Rai was an iconic political figure, dating back to the pre-independence years. Together with Ashton Chase and Eusi Kwayana, he is one of few political leaders still alive from the 1947 era when he supported the brash young radical Cheddi Jagan in a successful bid for a seat in the colonial legislature. Rai was an attorney and a devout member of the Arya Samaj Hindu faith. Clem Seecharan recalled how Rai was viewed in his Berbice village of Palmyra, 12 miles away from Jagan’s birthplace in Plantation Port Mourant: he was an icon…brilliant, fearless and confident…a true Kshatriya… After Jagan, Rai was certainly the most popular Indian leader in the colony.
“Rai rose to political prominence in 1957 after winning a seat to the colonial legislature as a PPP candidate by defeating Sydney King (Eusi Kwayana) in a close election for the Central Demerara constituency. He served as Minister of
Education (1959-61) and later, as Minister of Home Affairs (1961-62). As a PPP minister, he respected cultural diversity, advocated for the liberalization of local government and promoted ‘balance’ in the police force through targeted Indian recruitment. He played a major role at the historical 1960 Constitutional Conference in London where the issue of self-government was discussed (other delegates included Cheddi Jagan, L.F.S. Burnham, W.O.R. Kendall, Brindley Benn, Jai Narine Singh, Robin Davis and Rahman B. Gajraj). During his tenure, dual-control of Christian-ran schools was abolished. On February 16, 1962 (“Black Friday”), when British Guiana was in the throes of anti-budget demonstrations in Georgetown, led by Forbes Burnham and Peter D’ Aguiar, Minister Rai oversaw the crisis while every other PPP minister,
including the Jagans, went into hiding. Mr. Rai countermanded an order by the police commissioner to shoot protestors if warranted. Had this happened, British Guiana would have descended further into a state of ethnic strife.