Indians did fight for right to vote

May 18, 2012 Letters

Dear Editor,
Mr. Lincoln Lewis challenged President Donald Ramotar’s claim that Indians “fought for the right to vote” in Guyana in his missive captioned “The President Opted for a divide and rule strategy” (KN May 9). Such statement is reckless and smacks of ignorance and is unhelpful in improving race relations.
As I learn from my doctoral political studies, the “Right to Vote” is not a right that could reasonably be separated or isolated from the larger struggles for human rights, social justice and freedom. Every act of resistance, defiance or rebellion is driven by the desire for liberty, equality and justice and to be able to play a role in the governance of their nation. Africans, Indians, Europeans, Chinese, Amerindians, Mixed all fought for the right to vote at one time or another.
Africans were the first to fight for human rights. 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, like their African patriots, became militant and rebelled against the planters.
As I learn from my studies in Political Science, the “right to vote” substantially involves politics and law as well as constitutional and social reforms. 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 to handle political issues. They were more interested in their rice fields and farms and in their children to follow in their footsteps and as such they declined from participating in the 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), income and property requirements.
Many other well-educated descendants of indentured Indians became parliamentarians and helped to release Guyana from the colonial experiences of British rule. Stalwarts like JV and his brother EA Luckhoo, AE Seeram, JB Singh, K, Peer Bacchus, CR Jacob, Ayube Mohammed Edun struggled to expand the voting rights.
But it was Cheddi Jagan who led the struggle for universal franchise and political independence. Cheddi Jagan wrote: “The black middle class, which had emerged earlier historically… saw the emergent Indian middle strata as a threat. They perceived the lower rungs of the colonial administrative ladder as their preserve. In this sense, they tended to be conservative; wanting a maintenance of the status quo. And so, they assumed, for instance, in Guyana, increasingly a conservative political posture and opposed (voting) reforms for adult suffrage and self-government.”
After the franchise was obtained in 1953, it was Forbes Burnham and the PNC that rolled back the voting rights gains by rigging every election from 1968 thru 1992. During this period, it was mostly, though not exclusively, Indians, including some of us in North America, who fought for the restoration of the franchise and which led to the return of democratic rule in 1992 after 26 years of dictatorship. Baytoram Ramharack, Ravi Dev, Vassan Ranracha, Arjune Karshan, Chuck Mohan, and myself, among others fought for the restoration of the vote. I don’t recall ever seeing Lewis condemning Burnham or the PNC for taking away our vote and I am not aware of any role Lewis played in the battle to regain the vote.
To question President Ramotar on whether Indians ever fought for the right to vote is a provocative vitriol on race relations in Guyana where efforts are being made by decent individuals to harmonize relations.
I can’t quite understand what would drive a union leader not to recognize the role prominent older Indians like Jagan, Boysie Ramkaran, Jainarine Singh, etc. and younger Indian stalwarts like Moses Nagamootoo, Prakash Ramjattan, Ralph Ramkarran, Feroze Mohammed, Donald Ramotar, Nokta, N.K Gopaul, Lionel Peters, etc. played in the struggle for the vote sometime between the end of indenturedship in 1917 to 1992.
Vishnu Bisram

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