In a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his trip to Trinidad and Tobago, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh called him a "super premium frequent flier PM" on Friday.
"The Super Premium Frequent Flier PM will be in Trinidad & Tobago today," Ramesh wrote in a post on social media site X, implying that the prime minister's frequent international trips are excessive or self-serving.
Ramesh continued to emphasise the close historical and cultural ties between India and the Caribbean country in the same post. He highlighted the legacy of Indians who were brought to Trinidad and Tobago by the British as indentured servants in the 19th century, and how their descendants have made significant contributions to the political, literary, and athletic life of the nation.
Ramesh wrote, "Trinidad and Tobago is a small twin-island republic that has produced several world figures." "It is well known in India that thousands of indentured labourers were transported there by the British during the 1800s."
He mentioned notable people of Indian heritage who have influenced Trinidad and Tobago's history and acknowledged that approximately 45% of the country's current population is of Indian heritage. They included Nobel laureate and renowned author V.S. Naipaul and his brother Shiva Naipaul, the legendary cricketer Sonny Ramadhin of the West Indies, and former Prime Ministers Basdeo Pandey (who held office from 1995 to 2001) and Kamla Persad-Bissessar (the current PM).
"A few of their descendants have made significant contributions to politics, such as Basdeo Pandey and current Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar; to literature, such as 2001 Nobel laureate VS Naipaul and his brother Shiva Naipaul; and to cricket, such as spinner Sonny Ramadhin, who was immortalised in the magnificent Victory Calypso written after the West Indies had defeated England at Lord's for the first time in June 1950," Ramesh continued.
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Ramesh cited a trip to Trinidad and Tobago in October 1968 by then-prime minister Indira Gandhi as further evidence of the two nations' shared history. She had a lengthy discussion with Eric Williams, the nation's first prime minister and a distinguished historian who wrote the landmark 1944 book, during that trip.
However, Ramesh pointed out that Trinidad and Tobago's gloriously multiracial culture encompasses much more than just its Indian heritage. The country's first prime minister and leading figure in the freedom movement, Eric Williams, was an accomplished historian. He and Indira Gandhi had a lengthy discussion about this topic during their October 1968 meeting in Port of Spain. During her visit, the hosts created a beautiful film.
Ramesh used the occasion to draw a comparison between the substantive engagements of previous Indian leaders and what he implied was Modi's symbolism-heavy diplomacy.
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