Kapil Kumar
Sandili Maharaj-Ramdial
Tind The Year 2017 celebrated the 100th Year of the termination of Indian Indentureship for People of Indian Ancestry/Origin globally in countries like Guyana, Trinidad, Surinam, Jamaica, Belize, Mauritius, Fiji, South Africa and many others. Their descendants not only paid homage to their ancestors but also demonstrated the manner in which they have retained and strengthened their Indian cultural traditions which the jahaji bhai and behin brought with them. This forced indentureship, replaced the African slaves in colonial plantations after the abolition of African slavery by the British Parliament in 1838. Britain had thus converted India into a key market for supply of labour to European and American economies globally, which Hugh Tinker describes as A New System of Slavery (1974). Tinker's research evoked anxiety among colonial apologists, from historians to other social scientists, who sought to erase the hypocrisy of ending the slavery of one ethnicity only to create another. Consequently, these forced deportations of labour were now categorised as Migration or Mobility Studies paying little heed to the Callous and deceitful methods of 'recruitment'; treatment along the voyages; the life in the plantation colonies, and above all, failing to determine the reasons why people were forced or lured into becoming indentured labourers. Quite a few research works have emerged on these issues, often with ontradictory viewpoints. On one hand, is the exemplary work of Hugh Tinker who described indenture as 'a new system of slavery' and on the other hand, the colonial apologists describing the Indenture system as a willing option by those who 'migrated'. Increasing historical data from the archives of different countries and from many other sources is now being looked upon by scholars and many suppressed histories are being revealed.
For example, the recent work of Marina Carter and Crispin Bates shows the relationship between the 'Indian Uprising' of 1857 and the plantation colonies and describes how this 'revolt' was manipulated to provide a labour market for the colonies. They reflect on whether the said 'Mutiny' and migration was a conspiracy of silence among the planters and British officials. The archival records clearly demonstrate that the number of those shipped as indentured labourers had increased tremendously after 1857. In fact, thousands of Indian freedom fighters who fought the English were deported to plantation colonies - exile and labour was their punishment. Hence, describing these deportations as migration or mobility is a misnomer, conveniently used by the colonial apologists to suppress the histories of exploitation and oppression. They not only distorted historical realities but intentionally created such myths and stories to undermine every thing that was Indian. This was done to justify the new society that the colonialists attempted to establish in the plantation colonies-a passive and loyal society.
In spite of the social, cultural, economic and physical oppression, the Indian community toiled hard to build a bright future for their children and their descendants. They not only contributed in the progress of these colonies but some also made better fortunes for themselves. These contemporary conditions have also been used by some to describe the system of indenture as a gift by the colonial powers attributing indenture as an escape from the 'wretched' life in India.
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