In Guyana, Prime Minister Modi pays homage to Indians brought as indentured labor

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On November 21, 2024, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his state visit to Guyana, visited the Indian Arrival Memorial Monument (IAMM) at Monument Gardens in Georgetown, Guyana, an event organized by the Indian Commemoration Trust (ICT) and the Indian Commission in Guyana. PM Modi was greeted at the memorial by Ashook Ramsaran, an Indian American (president of the Indian Diaspora Council International), who said, “Namaste, Your Excellency, it is an honor to meet you again.” PM Modi shook hands with Ashook Ramsaran and his grandson Jaden Ramsaran.

Modi placed flowers at the base of the monument of the ship, a replica of the S.S. Whitby, which brought the first group of Indians on May 5, 1838. He also planted a tree and observed a replica of the logies the Indians first lived in when they came to Guyana, then British Guiana.

Ramsaran, in a press note, said he was instrumental in the design, obtaining funding from the Government of India, writing the inscription and unveiling of IAMM in 2013, the 175th anniversary of the first arrivals of 396 Indian indentured laborers. The two  discussed the history and significance of t he memorial. More than 239,000 Indian indentured laborers were brought to work on British owned plantations after the 1834 emancipation of slaves brought from Africa.