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This will not be Narendra Modi’s first visit to Guyana, as he travelled to the Caribbean region in 2000, including stops in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago
In 2000, Narendra Modi visited the Enmore Martyrs’ Monument in Guyana, dedicated to sugar plantation workers of Indian origin who were killed in a 1948 police firing while fighting for their rights. File image/News18
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit Guyana, marking the first visit by an Indian PM since 1968. The Guyana-India relationship holds great significance, as nearly 40% of Guyana’s population is of Indian origin.
This will not be Narendra Modi’s first visit to Guyana, as he travelled to the Caribbean region in 2000, including stops in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobaago. Guyana’s President, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, during his 2023 visit to India, had recalled Modi’s visit to Guyana even before he became chief minister.
Narendra Modi’s earlier visit to Guyana took place in August 2000, during his trip to Trinidad and Tobago to attend the World Hindu Conference. The event was attended by prominent figures, including Basdeo Pandey, then Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Ashok Singhal, then RSS sarsanghchalak K Sudarshan, Swami Chidanand Saraswati, and others. Modi was invited to deliver an address at this significant gathering of people of Indian origin in the Caribbean.
Narendra Modi’s engagement with the Caribbean region and its diaspora began even earlier, notably during his visit to the US in 1993 for the centenary celebration of Swami Vivekananda’s historic Chicago address. Ravi Dev from Guyana recalls, “I was invited by Mahesh Mehta from Boston to speak at the ‘Global Vision 2000′ conference organised by the Vishva Hindu Parishad in Washington, DC. It was a massive audience of thousands. I was part of a panel discussion on Retention of Hindu Values in the Overseas Hindu Samaj. My co-speakers were Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia and Narendra Modi. Our interaction started then, as Modi was curious to learn about the Indian population in the Caribbean.”
During his visit to Guyana and Trinidad in 2000, Narendra Modi explored local villages, interacted with people of Indian origin, and got more opportunities to engage with the community. Swami Aksharananda, founder of Saraswati Vidya Niketan in Guyana, recalls, “We organised a small gathering where Modi engaged with community members.”
Rabindranath Maharaj, a resident of Trinidad, adds, “He was deeply interested in our roots in India and eager to know if we still followed Indian traditions or how much we had adapted to Caribbean culture. It felt like he wanted every small detail, which he can connect together to get a larger picture of the nation and its people.”
Narendra Modi also visited the Enmore Martyrs’ Monument, a memorial dedicated to sugar plantation workers of Indian origin who were killed in a 1948 police firing while fighting for their rights. Ravi Dev, who accompanied Modi to the monument, recalls, “He did a pradakshina around the monument, paying tribute to those who sacrificed their lives for justice. He said to me, ‘On this land, the blood of Indians was shed. This is a punyabhumi for Indians’.” Modi later wrote an article detailing the struggles of labourers of Indian origin in Guyana.
Narendra Modi’s connection with the diaspora as Prime Minister is unprecedented among Indian leaders, but it is remarkable that he began fostering this bond decades ago, even before holding any administrative position.
