On April 11 Britain’s Home Secretary Priti Patel briefed theBritish people from 10 Downing Street on the COVID-19 situation in the country;she was deputising for Prime Minister Boris Johnson who was then in a Londonhospital battling the virus. She was perhaps the first person of Indian origin(PIO) to have spoken to the nation from this sanctum sanctorum of the country’spublic life and among the world’s best known addresses. This was an eloquenttestimony of the success of people of Indian origin (PIO) in Britain as it wasindicative of how much that country has changed. Certainly, even a decade agono one could have imagined that PIOs would hold among the highest politicaloffices in Britain: its current cabinet also includes Rishi Sunak as Chancellorof the Exchequer and Alok Sharma as Secretary of State for Business, Energy andIndustrial Strategy. And, Attorney-General Suella Braverman can trace herancestry back to India.
Britain is not the only advanced country where PIOs havemade a mark in public life. In Canada they have been cabinet members and havealso led provincial governments apart from being members of legislatures. IrishPrime Minister Leo Varadkar’s father an Indian born who went to Britain to workas a doctor before moving to Ireland. Australia and New Zealand have severalPIO legislators. In the United States PIOs have begun to hold important publicoffices including as members of Congress. Naturally there is a greater presenceof PIOs in English speaking countries because of historical reasons but India’sinteraction was with European countries too though, of course, not remotely tothe same degree or intensity as with Britain. Portuguese rule in Goa lastedfour and a half centuries and there have been a couple of prominent Portuguesepublic figures of Indian descent. These include the present Prime MinisterAntonio Costa.
PIO communities in advanced English speaking countriesessentially consist of people who migrated to the West after India’sindependence and their descendants. This migration occurred very largelydirectly from India but in some cases PIO families living in former Britishcolonies also migrated to Western countries. These PIO communities in the Westhave done well in the learned professions and to an extent in commerce andindustry. Their second generation are well integrated in these countries butsome sections of the community are not fully so. This applies especially to thecomparatively poorer families. Thus, the higher the level of education andaffluence the greater the integration. Despite any level of integration PIOs maintainan interest in India which comes through in many ways, including cultural.
PIO communities in the West are different in origin andtrajectory from those in former British colonies. Those communities consist ofdescendants of Indian indentured labour sent out after Britain abolishedslavery in 1833 though it was the French who took the first group of Indianlabour to their colony of Mauritius; the British acquired the island from theFrench in 1815. Indentured labourers were taken to work in mainly sugar canebut also in rubber plantations. Thus, they went to the Caribbean, South Africaand other British colonies in Africa, Malaysia, Mauritius, the Seychelles andthe last colony which opened to the indenture system was Fiji. Some Indianlabour also went to the French colony of Reunion island and Suriname which theDutch had colonised.
The indentured system was thoroughly exploitative. Inreality it was no better than slavery for the British ensured that a labourer’sremuneration was so low that it made his return to India almost impossible.Working and living conditions were also completely inhuman. Shrewdly, beginningwith the mid 1850s a substantial number of women were also taken under theindentured system so that families put up roots in the colonies. Generations oflabourers toiled in the plantations with little hope of improving their lot butsome enterprising individuals emerged from these desperate conditions who madetheir mark in the colonies in the second half of the last century. This was theperiod of decolonisation and among the newly independent states were some wherethere were large Indian populations, mainly the descendants of indenturedlabour but also those whose ancestors had gone to service or assist in policingthese labouring communities.
Mauritius gained independence in 1968. PIOs were in amajority and gained political power. Some Caribbean countries such as Trinidadand Tobago also had substantial Indian populations and over the years PIOsacquired a place in governance structures—Bassdeo Panday and Kamala PersadBissessar served as Prime Ministers. In Guyana PIOs were contesting power withpeople of African descent but three—the legendary Chhedi Jagan, Bharrat Jagdeoand Donald Ramotar ruled the country as Presidents. In Fiji, Malaysia,Singapore, and South Africa (during the struggle against apartheid andafterwards) PIOs were active participants in political life and held highoffices.
Generally, PIOs who are in the political life of theircountries have shown an interest in India. This does not mean that their firstloyalty is not with their own countries. It cannot and should not be otherwise.Also, their own countries have a priority in their lives, as they should butthey feel an affinity towards India. That affinity provides opportunities tothem and India to explore areas for congruence of interests. These areas areexpanding as India moves ahead on the world stage. Mutual benefit for India and PIO leaders’ countries are the only surefoundation for mutual cooperation. Cultural ties help but only to a point.