PM Modi says Indians in Trinidad and Tobago are “messengers of a timeless civilisation”: Read how they arrived as indentured labourers and persisted through harsh conditions

Indians have carved out a notable identity for themselves and are recognized for their potential to excel and prosper in any country they move to, regardless of the circumstances or challenges they may face. This is illustrated by the numerous success stories of the Indian community in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other parts of the world.

Indians are characterized by their strong work ethic, conquering obstacles and their ability to flourish wherever they settle. They also stay true to their beliefs and culture while embracing and assimilating into their new environment. Notably, Indians have been migrating to various regions across the globe for centuries. Nowadays, they do it for work, education and better opportunities, among other reasons.

However, there was a time when they were forcibly taken to other countries as laborers and servants for the imperialists. Nevertheless, they survived the horrors inflicted on them and triumphed over the traumatic reality to broke free from the boundations of subjugation, pain and suffering to thrive and make a name for themselves.

PM Modi lauds Trinidad and Tobago’s Indian community

The history of the Indian community in Trinidad and Tobago, a dual-island Caribbean nation near Venezuela, is similar. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is presently there as part of his five-nation tour, highlighted the same as well. “I know the story of the Indian community in Trinidad and Tobago is about courage,” he stated in his speech at an event at the National Cycling Velodrome in Couva.

He conveyed, “The circumstances your ancestors faced could have broken even the strongest of spirits. But they faced hardships with hope. They met problems with persistence. They left the Ganga and Yamuna behind but carried the Ramayan in their hearts. They left their soil, but not their soul.”

PM Modi reffered to them as “messengers of a timeless civilization whose contributions have benefitted this country, culturally, economically and spiritually,” and emphasised, “Just look at the impact that you have all had on this beautiful nation.”

Notably, the country’s first female and current prime minister, Kamla Susheila Persad-Bissessar, is a Hindu who traces her heritage to both South and North India. Her ancestors arrived in the country through the Indian indenture system and later settled there.

Splendid atmosphere at the community programme in Trinidad & Tobago. https://t.co/qlW5JqaCCl

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 3, 2025

PM Modi conveyed, “People in India consider Prime Minister Kamla as the daughter of Bihar. Like her, there are many people here whose roots lie in Bihar. The heritage of Bihar is a matter of pride for all of us.” He also mentioned the names of eminent figures in the country, including politicians, cricketers, and monks, to underline the incredible journey of Indians and the outstanding milestones they have reached.

“You, the children of girmitiyas (indentured labourers from British India), are not defined by struggle anymore. You are defined by your success, your service and your values,” he remarked and humorously added, “Honestly, there must be something magical in the doubles and dal poori because you have doubled the success of this great nation.”

“During my last visit 25 years ago, we were all captivated by the cover drives and pull shots of Brian Lara. Presently, it is Sunil Narine and Nicholas Pooran who evoke the same enthusiasm in the hearts of our youth. Over the years, our friendship has deepened,” he noted, aware of the craze for cricket in India and the Caribbean nation.

PM Modi additionally underscored the profound and historical connection shared by the two countries and stated, “Benaras, Patna, Kolkata, Delhi may be cities in India. But they are also names of streets here. Navratra, Mahashivratri, Janmasthmi are celebrated here with joy, spirit and pride. Chowtal and Baithak Gana continue to thrive here.”

He also invoked Lord Ram and spoke about the strong belief of the Indian community in the deity. “I am sure you all welcomed the return of Ram Lalla to Ayodhya after 500 years with great joy. We remember, you had sent holy water and Shilas for building the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya,” he recounted.

“I have also brought something here with a similar sense of devotion. It is my honour to bring a replica of Ram Mandir and some water from the river Sarayu in Ayodhya,” he stated as India reciprocated the heartwarming gesture.

“We deeply value the strength and support of our diaspora. With over 35 million people spread across the world, the Indian diaspora is our pride. As I have often said, each one of you is a Rashtradoot, an ambassador of India’s values, culture and heritage,” he reiterated regarding the vital role the Indian community plays globally.

Indian indenture system

An often overlooked facet of the history of slavery and Indian migration is the transition of indentured or bound labour. Indentured labourers from India were brought to several imperial colonies in the 19th century as a reliable and affordable source of labour, which marked the beginning of the contemporary Indian Diaspora.

It started with Mauritius in 1834. The 87-year colonial indentureship system brought more than 1.5 million Indians to other countries as bound labourers. After their contracts were terminated, many of these immigrants decided to remain on foreign soils, creating prosperous settlements and carrying on their traditions.

More than 1.6 million workers from British India were brought to work in European colonies as part of the Indian indenture system, which replaced slave labour after the trade was outlawed in the early 19th century.

The system expanded when slavery was abolished in the British Empire in 1833, the French colonies in 1848 and the Dutch Empire in 1863. Indian indentured servitude in Britain continued until the 1920s. This led to the growth of Indo-South African, Indo-Caribbean, Indo-Mauritian and Indo-Fijian communities, as well as the formation of a significant South Asian diaspora in the Caribbean, Natal (South Africa), Réunion, Mauritius and Fiji.

The white colonizers were evidently not content with plundering, killing, raping and enslaving the indigenous people in their own land. Hence, they also transported them overseas to exploit them further and subject them to inhumane treatment for the welfare of the British Empire.

The International Day for Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Abolition was established by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in 1998 to honour “the tragedy of the slave trade in the memory of all peoples.”

Additionally, it created the global, cross-cultural initiative known as “The Slave Route” to record and carry out a “analysis of the interactions to which it has given rise between Africa, Europe, the Americas and the Caribbean.”

Brief history of Indian diaspora in Trinidad and Tobago

Before Christopher Columbus set foot on Trinidad and Tobago’s coastlines in 1498, not much is known about their past. Little tangible evidence of the Arawak and Carib Indian populations that predominated on the island by the 1300s is left.

The Spanish encomienda system, which pressured people to submit to Christianity and work as slaves on Spanish Mission lands in return for “protection,” essentially wiped off these communities. The Spanish Empire included Trinidad until 1796.

The territory was turned over to the British Crown in 1802, making it a recognised colonial subsidiary. English investors were eager to boost Trinidad’s sugar sector, which proved to be incredibly profitable. The majority of the employees on the island’s sugar and cocoa plantations were African slaves who had been brutally transported there in the 17th century.

Trinidad’s agricultural economy was on the brink of collapse when an act of Parliament in 1838 outlawed slavery in all British colonies. The freshly liberated Africans refused to continue to sweat it out at the plantations and departed the fields in large numbers.

The sugar and chocolate industries started experimenting with new labour sources to save them from completely collapsing. Therefore, Chinese, Portuguese, African-Americans, and, most significantly, Indians were brought to Trinidad as indentured servants in an attempt to improve the flagging economy of the island. Indians were the most tenacious and prepared workers and were reportedly termed as “valuable steady labourers.”

As a result, they were hired in more numbers than anybody from any other nation, and by 1891, there were more than 45,800 Indians living on the islands. The indentureship system was terminated by the Indian Legislative Assembly in 1917.

In truth, the abolition of the slave trade was merely a facade, as a similar, if not more brutal, practice was enforced in the ruled territories. Indians were forced to cross over Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean and cover thousands of kilometres in perilous as well as life-threatening conditions, only to serve British interests.

Life of Indian indentured labourers

The first ship carrying 217 Indian labourers arrived at Trinidad’s Port-of-Spain in 1845, signalling the beginning of the enormous movement of the community around the world. Most Indians in Trinidad came from the ports of Calcutta (Kolkata) and Madras (Chennai), which are located in the Gangetic Heartland of India, which includes the present-day provinces of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Bengal. Many ships carried thousands of Indians from India to the Caribbean between 1845 and 1917.

Living circumstances were appalling and the voyage was gruelling and difficult. The Indians faced mistreatment, substandard food and hazardous weather. However, these unfavourable circumstances allowed them to develop a kinship that transcended their differences. They were fed and allowed to rest for a few weeks after disembarking at Nelson Island before they were dispatched to the various estates that had originally asked for them.

Peasants were drawn from the countryside, frequently by dishonest recruiting agents and then sent to different crown territories. They were facing a bleak future, oppressive systems of exploitation, rising rents and crashing local handicraft economies as well as devastating famines. British Guiana and Trinidad were the Caribbean territories that received the most Indian labourers, with 240,000 and 144,000, respectively.

“There can be no history of Trinidad and Guyana that is not also a history of the humanization of those landscapes by Indian labor,” highlighted famous Barbadian novelist George Lamming. Many bonded labourers found that their lives on Trinidadian plantations were not at all better than those they had left behind in India. “The indentured ‘coolies’ were half slaves, bound over body and soul by a hundred and one regulations.”

They were pushed to sign a five-year labour contract called girmityas (a perversion of the word agreement) that severely limited their personal liberties following a three-month sea voyage, during which many of them perished. Indians had to reside on estate lands, fulfil a set amount of labour and put in long, exhausting hours harvesting sugarcane.

Return transit to their homeland was provided to all migrants who lived in the colony for ten years, in part by the plantation owner. As a result of the creation of communities in their new countries, this practice, which was common in the early years when a large number of Indians and other Asian groups returned home, significantly decreased over time.

Later, a legislation was established that gave labourers royal lands rather than return passage. Many Indians embraced this offer and settled in their new adopted nation. Until the 1960s, a large number of Indo-Trinidadians endured illiteracy, seclusion and extreme poverty.

As expected, the Christian missionaries saw their miserable condition as a golden opportunity for conversion and the first attempts to educate and westernise immigrant populations was made by the Canadian Presbyterian Mission in 1875. The Mission founded Hindi language schools in Indian areas and converted a large number of people to their religion. Indian groups would eventually embrace Western clothing, general habits and Creole English.

Indians were actively involved in their local businesses and politics by the early 20th century. They  formed cohesive political organisations that have contributed to the transformation of Trinidad’s administration and policies, regardless of their continued symbolic marginalisation in society during the 1960s.

Conclusion

Celebrated on the 30th of May, Indian Arrival Day recognizes the first Indian indentured labourers who landed in Trinidad in May 1845 on board the ship Fatel Razack, but they did not come willingly but were compelled to embark on this journey with no alternatives. However, similar to other countries, Indians embraced the foreign land as their home, enriching it with the colors and traditions of India.

As PM Modi outlined, the children of girmitiyas have indeed made history. They showcased that their strength, resilience, and determination to survive and succeed were greater than all forms of British oppression and atrocities. Now, akin to Indians in others nations, they have also risen to prominent positions, making significant contributions to the achievements of not just their own community but also Trinidad and Tobago, just as their ancestors did, while continuing to honor their Indian heritage and roots.

News