C.K. Pote The launch of Gujarat Samachar in 1972 began well inspite of all the challenging circumstances in the UK. Economically and politically, several issues persisted. The Conservative government had run out of steam, and the leader of the Labour Party, Harold Wilson was making tremendous impact. Britain could not cope with the resurgent Germany on one hand and, the European community itself on the other, including France, Italy, Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg. In 1949, EEC (European Economic Community) began its journey with the formation of Steel and Coal authority. Britain was invited but declined the offer. Having missed the bus, the UK applied to join the EEC as it began to make bold strides, but was flatly rejected by President Charles de Gaulle, twice.
Economic development, productivity, and especially the foreign exchange challenges were hampering the progress of UK. In East Africa, the independence of Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika, the sultanate of Zanzibar also created challenges for the Asians that numbered over a quarter million, most of whom had either British passports or British-protected passports. Those with British passports were able to migrate to the UK as a matter of right. However, the British government had created various obstacles like “standing in queue” (settlement vouchers) and similar other measures to restrict the flow of new migrants despite them being British subjects. Most of the early arrivals of East African Asians were not businessmen or professional. They were mainly employees, both skilled and unskilled people.
Of course, the situation was going to change dramatically. In August 1972, dictator of Uganda Idi Amin announced the expulsion en masse of Asians, including those identified as Ugandan citizens.
Gujarat Samachar was very successful right from its inception, mainly because of its good editorial contents, especially powerful editorials largely written by Pranlal Sheth. The ethos of Gujarat Samachar came from the inspiration of Indian High Commissioner Appa Saheb Pant. In his inaugural speech, he mentioned the roles and responsibilities of an Indic publication.
On one hand we ought to unite all the Gujaratis as well as other Indians. But, he said, Gujarat Samachar also had to look at the prevailing inequalities, caste barriers and other limitations that were part of the Asian culture in East Africa. Asians in East Africa were some 50-70 years behind the Indians in India itself. In terms of social norms, India had been independent for about 25 years and the mind-set of these Indians had moved along very well with time. But East African Asians, according to several sociological studies, lived in their own, albeit slightly 'older' structures.
Appa Saheb Pant was not just a diplomat; he was a scholar and a spiritual person as well. He edified the editorial team of Gujarat Samachar to serve the community, highlight their problems, applaud their achievements, keep a watchful eye on the internal exploitation, and most importantly- not blame the colonial administration and use it as an easy excuse. He said that as and when one faces discrimination, or inequality in the UK, it is the duty of the paper to raise its voice, to energise the community and prevail on the powers that may be to provide level-playing fields.
Idi Amin maintained his stand about the expulsion and by the end of the year 1972, the British government had to establish over 10 camps to accommodate people expelled from Uganda. 28,000 East African Asians, out of which over 80 per cent where of Indian-origin, were forcibly uprooted and arrived in the UK. Jaffer Kapasi (now Honorary Consul for Uganda in Leicester), is one of the many who migrated to the UK in 1972, and started a whole new circle of life. With a handful of facilities and an uncertainty of what life would bring next looming over their heads, the expelled were said to have been welcomed with placards reading “Go Home”.
It was upon the then Prime Minister Edward Heath of the Conservative Party to make a decision. Heath said it was Britain’s moral responsibility to accommodate all those with British passports. Racism was rampant and several racist voices were creating enormous anxiety in the minds of ordinary British people. Despite the challenges, Edward Heath and his government stood by their constitutional responsibilities and if I may say so, welcomed the Ugandan Asians with dignity. The Uganda Resettlement Board was soon constituted under the chairmanship of Sir Charles Cunningham with Home Secretary Robert Carr sparing no efforts to fulfil their responsibilities. Sadly, an Indian member in the Ugandan Resettlement Board proved to be some what controversial and is well described in a book called 'The Passport and Politics', written by Mr Ingram.
Under the leadership of Pranlal Sheth, Gujarat Samachar became the voice- not only of the British Gujaratis, but other Britons who believed in fair play, equality, and the British wellness. The camps indirectly helped Gujarat Samachar. A large number of copies were sold then, and even today there are many readers who stay devoted to the publication since those dark days. Next week, I will look at the scenario and what was the impact of Ugandan Asians on Britain itself. But, of all the immigrants who came from various countries in the past, the Ugandan Asians, predominantly Gujaratis stood on their own feet in the shortest possible time, and in that process, the lion share of the credit goes to the women.
Gujarat Samachar has often talked about the wives and daughters from well off Ugandan Asian families who lived in comfortable houses catered by servants, taking up jobs of any sorts to ensure stable family finances, when they came to Britain. Not just that, they also took the greatest care of their loved ones and gave special emphasis on children’s education.
Diaspora Publications
The Indian diaspora, especially after 1835, with the abolition of slavery in effect, spread widely in the British colonies, moving to countries like Fiji, South Africa, Mauritius, Guyana, Trinidad, and Jamaica.
These emigrants, though they adapted themselves in their new lives, liked to keep in touch with their roots through religion. Cheddi Jagan of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), addressed the first GOPO convention in 1989, with his wife Janet (who went on to become the first female President of Guyana in 1997) sitting next to him.
A non-believer himself, Jagan said the migrants in Guyana would recite chopais in the evening. He said one could hear voices reading the Ramayana echo through the deep jungles of the region.
As the Indian community found a steady foot in foreign lands, mainly Hindi publications, principally newsletters began to circulate. In the early 20th century, it was Shyamji Krishna Varma who launched an English-Gujarati publication called ‘The Indian Sociologist’ in London. Subsequently, Chhagan Kheraj started a Gujarati publication called ‘Gaddar’ in USA. In the UK, it was a Muslim gentleman from Preston who made the first attempt to properly start a Gujarati publication.
In the USA, over the years, several Gujarati newsweeklies began their journey. At one stage, Gujarat Samachar (with parent company in Ahmedabad- not connected with Gujarat Samachar London), Sandesh, Divya Bhaskar, and Gujarat Times were thriving. In the last 10-15 years, in USA, all above publications have lost bulk of their readership. The readers can read online editions of Gujarati newspapers from India, as well as social media, and the internet.
About 800,000 Gujaratis are settled in UK, mainly in England. Almost 80 per cent of them are settled in a geographical mass like a trapezium with London in the south, east and west Midlands, Manchester and Leeds in the north. The total area is about 7300 sq miles.
In 1990, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher wrote an article in the ABPL Publication, ‘Asian Business’ that dispersal all over the country happens most frequently with the Indian community. They could be doctors, pharmacists, news agents, alike.
