{"id":2815,"date":"2020-09-21T12:05:18","date_gmt":"2020-09-21T12:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girmitiya.girmit.org\/new\/?page_id=2815"},"modified":"2020-09-29T12:05:11","modified_gmt":"2020-09-29T12:05:11","slug":"the-forgotten-girmitiyas","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/girmit.org\/index.php\/articles\/thakur-ranjit-singh\/the-forgotten-girmitiyas\/","title":{"rendered":"The Forgotten Girmitiyas"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”A Tribute on the Girmit Divas 2010″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″]

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Thakur Ranjit Singh<\/h2>
Writer & Human Rights Activist<\/div>

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Thakur Ranjit Singh is an Auckland, New Zealand based\u00a0Writer & Human Rights Activist, \u00a0Chief Editor \u2013 Indian Weekender (Auckland). \u00a0Mr Singh is a third generation descendant of Girmitiya (indentured labourer) Bansi. \u00a0He was a the former Executive of Carpenter Group of Companies in Fiji, National Bank of Fiji, former Publisher of Fiji\u2019s daily newspaper, The Daily Post, and former Director Administration and Operations of Suva City Council, Fiji. \u00a0Mr Singh is a political commentator and a columnist who writes on various social, cultural, political and religious issues for papers in Brisbane, Sacramento, Fiji and New Zealand.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0He\u00a0<\/span>has been an inspirational public figure whose work has been greatly appreciated and acknowledged by many. \u00a0I don’t have enough words to convey my gratitude towards Mr Singh for the encouragement, guidance and contribution towards this website. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/i><\/a><\/i><\/a><\/i><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>[vc_separator style=”shadow”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_message message_box_style=”3d” message_box_color=”orange” icon_fontawesome=”fas fa-quote-left”]Bhule Huye Girmitiye \u2013 the forgotten Girmitiyas: Shradhanjali ke do phool on the anniversary of Girmit Divas 2010[\/vc_message][vc_message message_box_style=”3d” message_box_color=”orange” icon_fontawesome=”fas fa-quote-left”]Today I wish to raise a question to the Indo Fijians reading this paper:\u00a0Can you recall the significance of 14th May? You may say, yes, of course, Rabuka\u2019s coup in 1987.<\/strong><\/p>\n

No, not that. I was thinking of something over a century before the coup \u2013 I was thinking of 14th May, 1879 when the first ship load of Girmitiyas- Fiji\u2019s indentured labourers \u2013 arrived in Fiji at Levuka in the historic vessel,\u00a0the Leonidas.<\/em><\/p>\n

As the Hindu Community of California or Surrey gather in your respective functions to sing Ramayan or participate in other pooja or bhajans, please ponder this issue \u2013 how come you are singing Ramayan in Hindi, maintaining your culture and are a pride to Hinduism and Indianness when the Indians from India have a greater tendency of becoming black Sahibs \u2013 people who change their religion and cannot read Hindi and claim not to understand or speak Hindi. Who do you give credit for this to?[\/vc_message][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

As the Hindu Community of California or Surrey gather in your respective functions to sing Ramayan or participate in other pooja or bhajans, please ponder this issue \u2013 how come you are singing Ramayan in Hindi, maintaining your culture and are a pride to Hinduism and Indianness when the Indians from India have a greater tendency of becoming black Sahibs \u2013 people who change their religion and cannot read Hindi and claim not to understand or speak Hindi. Who do you give credit for this to?<\/p>\n

You must thank our forbears- our Girmitiyas. When Indo Fijians nowadays come from Fiji, they will bring yagona and duty free liquor with them. But what did those Girmitiyas bring from India wrapped in their dhotis. No\u00a0bhang<\/em>\u00a0or duty free alcohol \u2013 but they brought Ramayan, Gita and their language and culture with them, and we are so thankful for that, but are so selfish to have forgotten their sacrifices. While on Thanksgiving Day, you think of those who sacrificed for America, why cannot we set aside at least one day to think of those who sacrificed their life for us Indo Fijians?<\/p>\n

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We should be thankful for the vision of our forbears for giving so much priority for education. One of the most important matters affecting new settlers at that time was education.\u00a0 It was British policy to keep the farmers in bondage and the best way of doing this was to keep them uneducated and ignorant.\u00a0 However, after their long suffering in Fiji, the girmitiyas realised the value of education and salvation via such means.\u00a0 They swore that never again would anybody subject their children and new generation to the indignity that they went through.<\/p>\n

It is from such thoughts and views that various religious groupings decided to establish schools for their communities.\u00a0 Hence started schools like Rarawai Muslim School, Vashist Muni School, Vunisamaloa Sangam School, DAV College, Khalsa College, Koronubu Indian School, and many rural community and religious based schools throughout Fiji. These schools were started with great deal of personal sacrifice and contributions. Some farmer gave his share of land, while others assigned certain tonnage to go towards the school while others toiled to build the school. This was very unlike the schools set up by government for indigenous Fijians where the full contribution was from the colonial government<\/p>\n

It is because of this legacy that today, over 90% of Fiji\u2019s students go to non-government schools and it is because of such vision that today\u2019s third and fourth generation of Girmitiya children are sought after professionals and skilled people in Fiji, New Zealand, Australia and other parts of the world.\u00a0 But how have we repaid this debt.<\/p>\n

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The tragedy of Indo- Fijians is that they lack selfless political or other forms of benevolent leadership. We have our so called crusaders of cane farmers, multitudes of qualified academics and professors who benefited through taxpayers money to get their degrees, yet they remain deafeningly silent when troubles hit our community. In other progressive democracies and in oppressed regimes, it used to be its academic sons and daughters who took the fight on for their country. In the case of Fiji, it has been a matter of shame.<\/p>\n

We have multitudes of prosperous Indo-Fijian lawyers made rich by a bickering Indo-Fijian community, yet how many have got the guts or human conscience to take the fight to seek redress from those who wronged us.<\/p>\n

It is unfortunate that even Fiji\u2019s people settled overseas, like in Sacramento, Surrey and in my Auckland have been so immersed in their new found prosperity that any thought of Girmit or Girmitiyas is considered blasphemy and scratching of old wounds. Some three years ago I hoped to mark Girmit Day on May 15 in Auckland, but was shunned by the descendants of Girmitiyas. What a shame. Even a temple supported and frequented by Indo- Fijians in Manurewa in South Auckland with an appropriate hall refused to grant us free use as they had to pay a mortgage for their loan. How about the mortgage that we owe to the sacrifices and suffering of girmitiyas that has landed us in this prosperity now? Can Indo-Fijians settled abroad be so thankless, conceited and selfish?<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]What I suggest is that we need to tell our children and grandchildren about the stories of Girmit so that they know where they have descended from and how full of suffering has been that first journey in 1869 to 1916 which saw some 60,000 Indians brought to Fiji. Even their descendents in Fiji went through great deal of suffering and discriminations by successive governments.<\/p>\n

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Descendants of girmitiyas, like their forefathers, are like gold \u2013 the more you subject them to fire and heat, the brighter and purer it gets. Similarly, the greater the degree of injustice and atrocities they suffer through hands of colonialists and now modern \u201csahibs\u201d in form of past Fiji government\u2019s institutionalized racial policies, the better they excel in life. We as children of girmit, like our forefathers have learnt to better ourselves when passing through adversity.<\/p>\n

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This article is dedicated by the children of girmit to the other 60,000 Bansi, Bhura and\u00a0jahaji bhai<\/em>\u00a0( travelling shipmate) Bholai who transformed Fiji from a cannibalistic tribalism and jungle to a flourishing democratic country which is referred to as crown jewel of Pacific through sacrifices and suffering of girmitiyas.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, history fails to recognize or acknowledge this. As\u00a0 we marked the 131 years of the first arrival of indentured labourers to Fiji on 14 May, 2010, this article is meant as a wreath on the graves of girmitiyas (shradhanjali ke do phool<\/em>\u00a0) to whom the whole of Fiji and those who originated in Fiji owes its gratitude. And so do we, the descendants of the Girmitiyas.<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_message message_box_style=”3d” message_box_color=”orange” icon_fontawesome=”fas fa-quote-left”]May the soul of our departed Girmitiyas and our ancestors rest in peace![\/vc_message][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”A Tribute on the Girmit Divas 2010″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_separator style=”shadow”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_message message_box_style=”3d” message_box_color=”orange” icon_fontawesome=”fas fa-quote-left”]Bhule Huye Girmitiye \u2013 the forgotten Girmitiyas: Shradhanjali ke do phool on the anniversary of Girmit Divas 2010[\/vc_message][vc_message message_box_style=”3d” message_box_color=”orange” icon_fontawesome=”fas fa-quote-left”]Today I wish to raise a question to the Indo Fijians reading this paper:\u00a0Can you recall the significance of 14th…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":2951,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-microsite.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2815","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girmit.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girmit.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girmit.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girmit.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girmit.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2815"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/girmit.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2909,"href":"https:\/\/girmit.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2815\/revisions\/2909"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girmit.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girmit.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}