"Super premium frequent flier PM": Jairam Ramesh takes dig at PM Modi; recalls Indira Gandhi's visit to Trinidad and Tobago
In a social media post on X, Ramesh wrote, 'The Super Premium Frequent Flier PM will be in Trinidad & Tobago today.'
The Congress leader further highlighted the historical and cultural significance of the Caribbean nation while referring to the deep-rooted connections between India and Trinidad and Tobago.
He noted that several descendants of Indian indentured labourers have made significant contributions to the political and cultural landscape of Trinidad and Tobago, mentioning former Prime Ministers Basdeo Pandey and Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Nobel laureate VS Naipaul and his brother Shiva Naipaul, and legendary West Indies cricketer Sonny Ramadhin.
Around 45 per cent of Trinidad and Tobago's population are of Indian origin.
The social media post reads, 'Trinidad and Tobago is a small twin-island republic that has produced several world figures. We in India know it as one of the places to which the British took thousands of indentured labourers in the 19th century.'
https://x.com/Jairam_Ramesh/status/1940975101295395064
'Some of their descendants have distinguished themselves in politics, like Basdeo Pandey who was the PM during 1995-2001, and the present PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar; in literature like V.S. Naipaul, who won the Nobel Prize in 2001, and his brother Shiva Naipaul; and in cricket like the spinner Sonny Ramadhin, immortalised in the fabulous Victory Calypso composed after the West Indies had defeated England at Lords for the first time in June 1950,' it added.
Ramesh also recalled a meeting between Eric Williams, Trinidad and Tobago's first Prime Minister and then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi during her visit to Port of Spain in October 1968, which had been commemorated with a film by the hosts.
He wrote, 'But there is much more to the gloriously multi-racial Trinidad and Tobago than just the connection to India. Eric Williams, the first Prime Minister and the pre-eminent leader of the freedom movement there, was a brilliant historian whose book Capitalism and Slavery, first published in 1944, has remained a classic. Indira Gandhi had a longish conversation with him on this subject when they had met in Port of Spain in October 1968. The hosts produced a lovely film on her visit...' (ANI)
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