Dear Editor,
I write in response to Mr Green in which he stated that I distorted history regarding the use of the Indian Immigration Fund (SN Nov 26). I (Nov 25) engaged in no lies or distortions or fulminations or propaganda in my response to his missive (of Nov 24). He did not identify any preceding claims in his retort of Nov 26.
I would have preferred not to continue this exchange. But Green made other unsubstantiated, incorrect claims that must be corrected lest people accept them as truths.
I have no tiff or rift or quarrel with Mr Green personally. I simply cited facts which are not in dispute and which educate the public. I have not attacked or maligned Green or anyone, just facts. Green has not disputed what I penned but has responded with his own ‘clumsy fulminations’ that did not negate the facts. He simply danced around facts.
Green and I agreed that the Indian Immigration Fund (IIF) was established to repatriate indentured Indian immigrants and their British Guyanese born children back to India. The fund was left unused in the colonial state and later the independent state national treasury because Indian s chose to remain in British Guiana. Indian organizations, not the state, became custodians of the fund. They decided unanimously to use the fund to build regional Indian cultural centers so the perpetuation of Indian culture.
In the 54 years since the push back by Indians against use of the Indian Immigrant Fund (IIF) for construction of the National Cultural Center (NCC) that has been in the news, Mr Green never disputed the fact that the fund constructed the NCC structure until this week when he claimed the fund was only sufficient for 5-10% of its construction cost. It was always accepted that the IIF was used to build the NCC with not even Burnham or Maha Sabha or the names he cited (Nov 25) disputing the fact. Nabi & Sons Construction built the NCC; it was Nabi that provided the details to Dr Balwant who informed the Indian community of Burnham’s plan that led to near unanimous, consistent opposition for use of IIF to build NCC. It was Nabi that informed Indian community leaders that IIF financed the structure.
Now, Green has changed his story telling us that IIF was the seed money that was needed for the construction of the edifice. What other information did he withhold?
Green knows that Guyana became a severely racially polarized nation from 1954, forcing organizations and people to take political sides — Indians for Jagan and Africans and Mixed races for Burnham. After the rigging of the 1968 elections that denied Jagan and the PPP their legitimate accession to office, racial polarization exacerbated and was at its epitome in 1970 when the decision was made to confiscate the Indian fund to build the NCC. It is a fact that leaders of Indian organizations (splintered Maha Sabha, GYO, Guyana Sad’r Islamic Anjuman, etc.) met and agreed to use the IIF for construction of regional cultural centers. Upon learning of the plan, Burnham coerced Maha Sabha, the wing aligned with him, to support his plan to expropriate the fund for construction of the NCC. Anyone who opposed Burnham was dealt with ruthlessly; many lost lives or limbs. Green knows much about violence unleashed on opponents. Only a courageous few like Dr Balwant Singh, Pt Reepu, Sahadeo, Yacoob Ally, etc. and later my group in USA spoke out against wrong doings. Maha Sabha lost its legitimacy among Indians by aligning with Burnham. Burnham used the endorsement of the Maha Sabha and ignored the opposition from all other Indian organizations and proceeded to expropriate the fund to construct the NCC.
It was no surprise that Indians railed against the planned illegal use of IIF and rallied against the expropriation of the fund and the coerced endorsement by the PNC aligned Maha Sabha to build the NCC. Those who supported Burnham would have been ostracized from the community in a highly polarized nation. Maha Sabha and a Muslim organization, a marginal break away faction of Anjuman, that aligned with Burnham were blanked by and alienated from the Indian community until a few years ago. They became fringe outfits that could not speak for or represent Indians. That was and largely still is the nature of political and race relations in the society.
On national development and cultural centers, Dr Jagan and the PPP endorsed and supported the idea of construction of a national cultural center but not with the IIF. Jagan came out against the expropriation of the IIF. Dr Jagan, de facto leader of Indians, who received nearly all Indian votes in 1968, supported the plan by Pt Reepu (Dharmic Sabha) and leaders, like Yacoob Ally and Dr Balwant, of other Indian organizations that the fund be used for construction of regional cultural centers. It was the right thinking. Most Indians lived away from Georgetown and it was not considered as a suitable location for a regional cultural center that would be accessible to Indians. The proposed cultural centers were to be constructed in rural areas in the heart of the Indian communities as it was the money left behind by their ancestors. The IIF was sufficient to build these proposed regional centers.
I gently ask Mr Green: If your ancestors left funds behind and the (PPP) government expropriated it to build a cultural center in Ankerville, Port Mourant or in Bath Settlement, or Black Bush, or Enmore, or Leonara, or Anna Regina, in the heart where Indians are settled in rural country, how would he feel?
One cannot undo the NCC or recover the fund. But people from Berbice, Corentyne, Essequibo, West Coast, West Berbice cannot access the NCC. People from above areas and of all other outlying areas in Berbice, Essequibo, etc. are crying out for a cultural center that is near them. These centers would have been constructed and made available since the 1970s if Burnham and Green had not confiscated the IIF preventing their construction. Indians are craving for justice. A class action suit should be filed against the state for restorative justice.
The fund cannot be returned to the Indian community. At a minimum, justice can be served to people living in outlying areas by giving them access to regional cultural centers. These must be built by the state since that was the idea of the use of the fund by leaders of representative Indian organizations.
I agree with Green that only the “truth will make us all free”. The truth and facts are stated above!
Sincerely,
Dr Vishnu Bisram