Dear Editor,
I do not quite understand why Mr Lincoln Lewis would challenge President Donald Ramotar’s claim that “it is they [Indians] who called for the right to vote” in Guyana in his missive captioned ‘The President opted for a divide and rule strategy‘ (SN, May 8). I should like to think that Mr Lewis, the leader of a confederation of unions, knows better as he noted in previous missives in the dailies making references to Dr Cheddi Jagan’s The West on Trial which provided details of Indians’ involvement in the independence struggle as well as specifically on the struggle for the right to vote. Historian Dwarka Nath also noted that Indians made an important contribution to the struggle for expanding voting rights in Guyana. Prof Baytoram Ramharack’s Against the Grain: Balram Singh Rai and the Politics of Guyana, Jai Narine Singh’s Guyana: Democracy Betrayed: A Political History, 1948-1993 also provide useful information on the struggle for the ballot Africans, Indians, Europeans, Chinese, Amerindians, Mixed all fought for the right to vote.
It is true the political struggles in Guyana were first initiated by African slaves in their resistance and rebellion against Dutch and British planters. Even after the slaves secured their freedom in 1838, the struggle continued against institutional manipulation and control. Indians entered the struggle for human rights soon after they arrived in the colony in May 1838.
Initially, the indentured Indians were docile but later on as they became increasingly oppressed, they became militant and rebelled against the planters.
It is true that of all the ethnic groups, Indians entered the political arena last. The Immigration Agent wrote (quoted in Nath’s book) that the Indians had confidence in the colonial government and were more interested in farming than in political issues, and in their children following in their footsteps.
As such they declined to participate in politics. But some of them did become interested in political issues and lobbied for the right to vote which was determined primarily by literacy (English, not Hindi or Urdu) and property requirements. Guyanese-born descendants of indentured immigrants began their journey from plantation poverty to parliamentary power when Mr Joseph Alexander Luckhoo, barrister-at-law, a first generation descendant, was elected to the Court of Policy (colonial legislature) in 1916. Later, many other well-educated descendants became parliamentarians or became involved in government and governance, and in the process, helped to release Guyana from British rule. Stalwarts like EA Luckhoo, AE Seeram, JB Singh, K, Peer Bacchus, CR Jacob, Ayube Mohammed Edun struggled to expand voting rights. But it was Cheddi Jagan who led the struggle for universal franchise and political independence.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
