By Raffique Shah
May 31, 2025

I have said this—what I’m about to write here—a hundred times over the past 20 years or so that we have marked and celebrated Indian Arrival Day.

First, I was among a vocal minority who expressed the strong view that the holiday in recognition of the arrival of Indian immigrants on the Fatel Razack in 1845 bringing the first indentured immigrants to Trinidad and Tobago, be named Arrival Day.

It is true that Indians, mostly Hindus, formed the core of those who chose to leave their land of birth and suffer multiple afflictions until they arrived in the Caribbean. It is true, too, that as quickly as they settled, formed communities, with most of them being Hindus they became the most influential religious and ethnic group in this new diaspora.

I should have a special interest in that first group, since my maternal great-grandfather was an infant son of one of the families on board. By the time they had concluded their indentureship on a sugar estate somewhere in Couva, they were leased lands in Calcutta Village, Freeport. When that patriarch of the Elahie family died, the roots of our family had spread way up to the agricultural forest lands of Arena, La Cuesa and lower Freeport.

However, as happened with so many families of migrants, as they spread out and generations kept ticking by, we lost track of each other. Mostly those of my generation went on to be educated in the Christian schools that serviced the communities they lived in. I attended, in chronological order, a Presbyterian primary school in Freeport, an Anglican school in Waterloo, then a Roman Catholic college—Presentation Chaguanas.

I would end up in that early career in the private education system teaching many of my cousins and assorted relatives in Central Trinidad. Then, at age 18, I chose to join the military, a highly unusual career for boys who had graduated successfully from the secondary school level. All of what I have related thus far happened by the 1960s.

In 1991 when Patrick Manning became prime minister, he pursued national unity of the many ethnic groups that lived here by honouring their desires for recognition. So, the Africans—who coming out of the 1970 Revolution claimed Emancipation Day, August 1, as a memorable occasion that called for celebration. They did not need to have African inserted there because they had been the only people who had suffered slavery and bondage. Indians marked their arrival as a large migrant group. Indians chose the arrival day of the Fatel Razack as their holiday.

Several organisations that represented sections of the Hindu community had their own ideas about how to mark the big day. Many of them clamoured for the recognition to include India. Others differed: for example, large groups of Chinese, Portugese, Muslims and Christians had also arrived in Trinidad. Most of the Indians who migrated here were Hindus, but there were substantial communities who were Christians, Muslims, and other denominations.

So while the Hindus dominated the diaspora, others who were not as vociferous were not keen on participating in the activities that marked the occasion. Then prime minister Manning telephoned me to discuss the issue that arose when Hindus pressured him into retaining “Indian” in the official naming of the holiday. I suggested that he should stick to his guns. I argued that a large number of Muslims and Christians were among the arrivals.

Indeed, Trinidad and Tobago was a society of people from other countries and cultures that had arrived here after Christopher Columbus claimed the island as a colony of Spain. This was the ultimate mix that had shaped our society which the world came to recognise and love, as Sniper did when he sang his patriotic song, “Portrait of Trinidad” (“Trinidad is my land…”).

I have noticed, however, that the religions that dominate Indian Arrival Day celebrations are the Hindus. For example, last week, the newscast on State-owned channel TTT was delayed for the reception of a murti at a function that was not directly related to State matters.

And, several pundits who were interviewed as they presided over various celebrations throughout the country admitted they were also marking the UNC victory at the polls.

Now, no one can deny Hindus or any other religious group celebrating Arrival Day or any other holiday as they see fit, but when they appear to have grabbed a national holiday and rechristened in the name of Lord Rama, they are deliberately excluding 70% of the population who are not Hindus. Is this what they want? Is this what we want?

It seems the powers that be in some of these religious groups demand State-everything from government, but at whose expense? We patriots must, however, ensure that State and religion maintain their distance from each other.

State business is government business, for all the people in the country.

Nuff said.