Our aim is to pay homage to the hundreds of thousands of the Indian Indentured Labourers who left their motherland, from 1834 to 1920. I, as the President of this Society, which we now fondly call GIDHS, have been compiling primary records on the Colonial Emigration since 1993. For this, I had to sit and copy records in the West Bengal State Archives, the National Library at Kolkata, the National
Archives of India at New Delhi and the Maharashtra State Archives at Mumbai. As in 2011, it is now 18 years since I have been sitting long hours at the Archives. My original curiosity has turned into a frenzy of passion, bordering on madness. I have published fourteen voluminous books on Indentured Labour that can be categorised in three sections:-
(1) The Proceedings. These recorded events pertaining to the system of recruiting, its malpractices that involved kidnapping, false promises, coercion, difficulties in recruitment and so on. These incidents were discussed, reports were compiled now and then and the
(2) Colonial Emigration Acts were legislated and based on reports of the Proceeding, the Acts enforced terms, rules and regulations that permitted Indians to be shipped out of the country and these became law. The Acts demanded regular reports which were submitted in the third part,
(3) The Annual Reports to British and Foreign Colonies from the Port of Calcutta / Madras / Bombay, these records have been complied haphazardly. In the initial stages, that is from 1842 to 1850, details and names of ships, Emigration Agents, Depôts, etc were not recorded. Gradually, the annual reports which were complied within ten pages were presented in 40 to 60 pages. Again, after 1912, the records diminished in number of pages and finally by 1932, they were in repeated formats of a not more than10 pages. Going through the records of the Colonial Emigration, one cannot help but worship those brave men and women who emigrated. Hence, with all the informations in my head, in the year 2005, I walked in the office of the newly created Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs and met the then Joint Secretary, Shri Malay Mishra. Frankly, I asked him, if the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs would limit its activities to organise only seminars, workshops and conferences; he said “no we are open to suggestions”. I then suggested a Memorial to be erected to pay tribute to those brave men and women who have made several countries come alive with their hard toils and their sacrifices, I told him, we need to establish a Museum to depict the History of Colonial Emigration, a subject shrouded in ignorance. Mishra said “wait we are shifting to Akbar Bhavan, let's launch your first book at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Hyderabad January 2006, then you come to Delhi and continue the discussions”. When I went to Delhi in March 2006, Mr. Mishra insisted I meet his Secretary, Mr. A meeting of half an hour the then Secretary asked Mr. Mishra to proceed to Kolkata to search for a site. On the 29th March 2006, I personally drove Mr. Mishra to the Millenium Park and Princep Ghat where the Kolkata Port Trust offered spots for erecting the Memorial. We then proceeded to No.8, Garden Reach, which was the depôt for Demerara for several years, to the Vice Regal Lodge at Belvedere, Alipore, which today is known as the National Library, one of the World's largest depository of millions of books and records. We then drove to No. 14A, Debendra Lal Khan Road in Bhowanipore, where the original depôt for Mauritius and subsequently for other Colonies was located. We ended the day with a meeting with Mr. Gautam Sengupta, the then Director of Archeology and Museum of the Government of West Bengal. In just two weeks, after the visit of Mr. Mishra in Kolkata, Mr. Narainswamy and Mr. Malay Mishra wrote the following letters, reproduced here: -
The above letters mention a project for the Memorial and Museum, where my name is mentioned. The MOIA endorsed copies of all their letters written to the West Bengal Secretarial, to me. I could then liaise with the then Home Secretary, Shri Prasad Ranjan Ray and the Director of Archeology, Dr. Gautam Sengupta. After thorough search of records at the Municipality of Kolkata, as to the ownership of 14A, D. Khan Road, notices were finally inserted in the Times of India (English) and Jugantar (Bengali), two leading newspapers, on July 2nd 2006. After the required period of 30 days, when no one came to claim the ownership, the matter was sent to the West Bengal Heritage Commission, who in September 2006, then declared 14A, D. Khan a Heritage site. I informed the MOIA about these developments. Incidentally, the MOIA did not receive one single reply from the West Bengal Government. The files of the MOIA are the records of the above facts. Having done this much, I left the matter to be pursued by the MOIA. In the interim, some private parties who were already involved in “under the table” activities regarding this property, filed a petition in the Calcutta High Court, that passed an order in May 2010 that due to non-compliance of legal procedures by the West Bengal Heritage Commission, the Commission was given an opportunity to re-declare the site as a Heritage one. The matter has been referred by the West Bengal Heritage Commission to the Ministry of Arts and Culture. I have made presentations to the Ministry of Arts and Culture and have received no replies. The case rests here. Meanwhile one of our dreams, the Kolkata Memorial, which project I pursued since 2005, culminated on 11th January 2011 when the Hon'ble Minister, Shri Vayalar Ravi, unveiled the Monument. The decision could be arrived at when Dr. Didar Singh, the dynamic present Secretary, came to Kolkata in July 2010 and the spot was selected by him. A historical spot. At the exact place from where the emigrants last touched the soil of their motherland. There cannot be a more befitting tribute!
