Gandhi name appropriate for renaming places in Guyana

Oct 08, 2021 Letters

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Dear Editor,

Reference is drawn to comments by Elijah Bijay (KN October 6) and Hamilton Green denigrating Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, popularly known as the Mahatma (Great Soul) dismissing proposal to rename Promenade Garden or Middle Street after the iconic leader. Was renaming of places, including a city “Linden”, after the dictator Forbes Burnham and his children and wife, Viola, not an insult to the nation?
While not agreeing with some positions of Gandhi, like the rest of the world, I revere and salute Gandhi’s contributions to India’s freedom movement, paving the way for independence. Because of his struggle, other countries in Africa and Asia in the 1950s and subsequently the Caribbean, including Guyana in the 1960s and 1970s were able to gain their freedom from colonial rule. That in itself is worthy of naming a place after him.
Green and Bijay refer to Gandhi as a foreigner. They are wrong. Gandhi has outlived the physical features of an Indian and as foreign. He is claimed by every territory as theirs. The Gandhi of today is a representation of utmost humanity. Gandhi has been widely accepted as a global citizen and revered everywhere including by those who ordered his beating and put him in jail in South Africa and India. Green and Bijay state that places should not be named after a foreigner. What should we do with Nelson Mandela Avenue? Or is Green and Bijay only seeing “race” in their thoughts and actions? Is naming a place after Mandela ok but not after Gandhi?
Green states that Middle Street or Promenade Gardens, if name were to be changed, should be named after someone who was connected to emancipation. Gandhi helped emancipate not only Guyana but the world. He was not born (1869) during slavery, but he fought against indentureship which was a new form of slavery that was practiced in Guyana. His struggle helped to end the new slavery in 1920 and emancipated the “new slaves”.
Every country and culture celebrated Gandhi’s achievements and paid tribute to him, except maybe the Burnham Government that Green served. But even Green’s leader, the dictator Forbes Burnham, admired aspects of Gandhi’s struggle comparing a few miles of his march at national service in 1974 with the Dandi Salt March; there is/was no comparison as Gandhi marched for 240 miles defying British authority and Police beatings, landing Gandhi and several of his peace organisers in jail.
Green made reference to Gandhi’s struggle in South Africa and the removal of his statue in 2019 in Ghana. The latter was done out of ignorance of Gandhi’s ideology and positions and struggle on behalf of Black Africans. Gandhi was merely 21 when he had his first encounter with Blacks in South Africa. He didn’t know the culture or conditions of Blacks and made unfriendly remarks about them. After his experience with White racism, he better understood the predicament of Black Africans as well as Indian South Africans. He recognised that the struggle against injustice by Blacks, Indians, Coloured were intertwined, and he fought for justice for all groups. Gandhi got into the political arena in South Africa and India because of disadvantage and racial discrimination that was imposed on Blacks in their homeland in South Africa. He was perhaps the lone figure at the time to fight the British for liberations of Africans first and later people of his native India. When he left South Africa in 1914, he expressed regret for his initial views about Blacks in 1893. And he urged the Blacks and Indians to work together. His struggle against racial injustice was continued by Ahmed Khatrada and other prominent Indians. The African National Congress was modeled after Gandhi’ Congress organisation. All South African Black leaders paid tribute to Gandhi and several places have been named after him post-apartheid. Mandela and others inaugurated events after Gandhi and praised him in helping to help liberate South Africa from white only rule.
The removal of Gandhi’s statue in Ghana was not surprising given the attitude towards Indians in that country. Did the Ghanaian leaders support Idi Amin when he told Indians to swim out of Uganda? Were not Indian assets expropriated in Ghana following the confiscation of Indian properties and businesses in Uganda by the cannibalistic Idi Amin?
On honouring Gandhi, derogated by Winston Churchill, Gandhi was recently honoured with a statue in London’s Parliament Square, looking out over the Palace of Westminster in the company of Benjamin Disraeli and Churchill. Then British Prime Minister, David Cameron said “Gandhi’s approach of non-violence will resonate forever as a positive legacy, not just for the UK and India, but the world over”.
Gandhi was a symbol of tolerance and non-violence. His lifestyle and struggle was the direct opposite of the violence unleashed on Africans during slavery in Guyana and in apartheid South Africa. It was a direction of beheading of slaves. That slaves were beheaded and their heads posted on stakes would have been condemned by Gandhi as he condemned all forms of violence. His behaviour is that of the triumph of tolerance and of peace over slavery. Again, this perfectly justifies the placement of his statue and or renaming of Middle Street or another street or Promenade Gardens – that symbolism of peace, non-discrimination, equality, and respect for all. His name is most appropriate for renaming places in our country.

Yours truly,
Dr Vishnu Bisram

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