The Indian Fund and Cultural Center

Feb 12, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor,

Reference is made to letter by Ms. Gem Madhoo-Nascimento (Feb 5) supporting my view ( Jan 29) that there should be a plaque at the national cultural center (NCC) that states that it was built with the Indian Immigrants Fund and that the NCC should have a permanent display of Indian art. Both are missing ever since the (Burnham) center was built in 1974 with the Indian Fund.
I proposed that the money used from the Indian Fund should be returned and used to build regional Indian Cultural Centers since the money belong to the Indian community. Ms. Madhoo-Nascimento stated that she is opposed to my suggestion that there should be regional Indian cultural centers, saying these would “further divide the country”. I don’t see how Indian cultural centers would divide the nation any more than it already is.
Guyana is a multi-cultural nation with fascinating cultures of its diverse people – Africans, Indians, Chinese, Portuguese, Amerindians, etc. Each culture has been and continues to be autonomous or else there will be cultural genocide, a crime against humanity which can be prosecuted by the UN. Government can’t impose another culture on a group of people. In White America and UK, every group practices and displays their culture. Whites don’t impose their culture on others. Afro-Guyanese and Indo-Guyanese cultures thrive in the US and they have their own separate performances in Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Atlanta, Orlando, Ft. Lauderdale, Palm Beach, Ft. Myers, Chicago, Minneapolis, Houston, etc.
In Guyana, every group has a right to their cultural centers. The Africans have the attractive Lichas Hall in Linden, as Ms. Madhoo praised. The Africans also have the majestic Tipperary Hall in Buxton that was modernized with government funds by President Jagdeo in 2011, among others. There is no local Indian Cultural Center (other than the one funded by the government of India) in Bel Air. Why would regional Indian cultural centers lead to division of the country but African cultural centers won’t.

In a divided country like Guyana, one cultural center leads to animosity and further divides the country as one culture would end up being dominant as has been the case with the NCC since 1974. Ever since Burnham appropriated (usurped) the Indian Funds to build the NCC, there has been animus. For decades, Indians have refused to enter that building. Indian community leaders swore, issued an Indian sarap (curse), that they would never set foot into that building and have refused to do so till now. They have been enraged that the money of their ancestors was taken away from them to build something for which they have not been beneficiaries and that lacked their input in design and display of arts.
Ms. Madhoo said she felt it was appropriate for Burnham to usurp the money to build the NCC because Guyana was hosting Carifesta and needed a cultural center. I think it was wrong to use the Indian Fund to construct it as it furthered the racial division between Indians and Africans. Coming right after the race riots, the Wismar Massacre of Indians, and so many other incidents, it was too insensitive to appropriate the Indian Immigrant Fund. It came across as Burnham thumbing his nose at Indians that he could do whatever he wanted to them.

Ms. Madhoo has every right, like me and all other Indians, to offer a view and to determine the purpose and use of the Indian Immigrant Fund. It was suggested since the late 1950s that the fund be used to construct regional Indian cultural centers. Political events of the 1950s and 1960s placed the usage of the fund on the back burner of the community that was caught up with election fever and who was going to replace the Whites as inheritors of political rule. After he was installed as leader, Burnham set his sight on the Indian Fund. Dr. Jagan, the de facto leader of the Indian population for five decades, endorsed the recommendation of multiple Indian cultural centers and opposed the use of it for construction of the NCC.
For now, there is no opposition to government putting up a plaque stating that the NCC was built with Indian Immigrants Fund, permanently displaying Indian arts at NCC to give recognition to the presence of this group, and refunding the money (in today’s value with interests) to the rightful heirs of the Indian Fund. Let the heirs decide through consultation or a referendum or through some other means on what should be done with the money!
Yours truly,
Vishnu Bisram

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