Patna : The distance may be over 15,000 km but Trinidad and Tobago resembled more of Bihar as Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in the tiny Caribbean country on Friday. In the tiny island nation that has a population of just 13 lakh, less than even Goa, over 45% are of Indian origin, mostly from Bhojpuri-speaking districts in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Most of their ancestors came as indentured labourers from colonial India and settled here.
While it is not known if he travelled to the community event venue via Trinidad and Tobago’s famous Patna Street (yes, the nation has a street named Patna), he made it a point to mention it during his address. Banaras, Patna, Kolkata, and Delhi may be cities in India, but there are also names of streets here, PM Modi said. However, the glue was the nation’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar. The name “Kamla” in a Caribbean nation would have piqued the interest of many. It is not known to many that she traces her ancestral roots to Bihar’s Buxar district.
It was touched upon by the Prime Minister during his address at a community event in Port of Spain. With PM Kamla by his side, Modi called her Bihar ki Beti and hailed her achievement – a subtle message to the women voters in the state. The ancestors of PM Kamla were from Bihar’s Buxar. She has also visited the place. People consider her the daughter of Bihar, PM Modi said. Ram Lakhan Mishra, a native of Bhelpur village in Buxar, migrated to Trinidad and Tobago in 1889 as a labourer and settled there. Kamla Persad, one of his descendants, became the first woman prime minister of the nation a century later in 2018.
Bihar’s heritage is the pride of India and the world. The state has shown the way to the world in various fields like democracy, politics, and diplomacy for centuries. New opportunities will emerge from Bihar in the 21st century, PM Modi further said. The fact that Bihar is a significant source of migrants, both within India and internationally, was also not lost upon the Prime Minister.
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