The year was 1808. The place, Jammu. Raja Jaid Singh was placed on the throne of Jammu to be its king, supported by the presence of Mian Mota Singh, the all-powerful kingmaker of Jammu. In this period of madness in the province of Jammu, one hoped that Jammu would witness a semblance of balance and stability being created. Jammu had been in a free fall following the death of Raja Brijraj Dev. Sampuran Singh, the successor, succumbed to smallpox, leading to the situation that a new successor had to be found desperately. In the scramble, the name of Jaid Singh came forward, and with Mian Mota Singh’s support, Jaid Singh ascended the throne. Raja Brijraj Dev of Jammu ( painting with San Diego Museum of Art) Contributing to the constant madness in Jammu were the Khalsa forces who would raid Jammu and pillage it constantly, devoiding it of its wealth. The 1783 pillage of Jammu remained afresh in the minds of the people and the aristocrats alike - for two months, one witnessed not a single ...
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| Sri Kali Hindu Temple in Yangon. It was built by Tamil migrants whilst Burma was part of British India. |
The actions against Indians in Myanmar remains a blind spot in our history and neglect towards Indians. Indians, who were derogatorily called 'kalas' were the biggest diaspora in Myanmar when it became independent. However, Indians had a significant role in the economy of the province. Money lending to mom and pop stores - every aspect was peppered with the presence of Indians.
The xenophobic policies of the government remained ignored for decades. Burma was ruled from India by the British till the 1930s, and subsequently got independence around the same time as India. The new government of Burma took a number of measures meant to strengthen economic interests of Burmese against the foreigners; however, in effect, these measures were targeted essentially at Indians and Chinese.
The 1948 Land Alienation Act forbade sale of land to non-Burmese. The Burma Land Nationalization Bill, which was passed on 11 October 1949, aroused deep resentment and strong protest among Indians in both Burma and India. However, Nehru did not feel it was discriminatory. Ironically, it was an era where any diaspora members across ASEAN And Africa were being treated by the rulers of India as people at fault for not 'fully integrating', a convenient excuse for not taking action to save Indian diaspora anywhere. The 1948 actions were followed by the 1949 nationalization affected mostly the Indian chettiyars, landlords, and financiers. This pushed several Indians out of the country; however, many still held on, hoping things would turn around.
However, when General Ne Win seized power in 1960, a new cycle of repression started. In the early part of 1964,the Ne Win government nationalized shops and stores, hitting small traders. In his zeal to 'nationalize' in the favour of 'locals', over 12,000 Indian concerns with assets worth Rs.15 crores were appropriated by the state. This deprived many Indians of their means of livelihood. Many wanted to come back to India, but had nothing with them to enable them to do so, having nothing left. However, the Nehru government was less than reluctant to do anything about them expect hem and haw.
Eventually, over 300,000 ethnic Indians were repatriated. Indian-owned businesses were nationalized, and the owners got just a nominal sum of 175 kyat for their trip back to India. The Indian Government maintained that the events were “strictly a matter of domestic jurisdiction”.
How big were the assets they lost? To quote a story
"Our estimate is that about Rs 1 lakh crore worth of assets belonging to the Chettiars remain in Burma," says 77-year-old A T Ganesan Kannan, who is a member of the Burma Mudhaleetalar Kuzhu, or Burma Investors Group, formed in 2007 to try and recover the assets in Myanmar. Kannan says that the group has around 300 members, of whom around 100 possess documents showing family ownership of land to the extent of 300,000 acres in that country.
The community at the time had tried hard to get their losses recompensed. They approached PM Nehru, who apparently told them that the community had enjoyed their investment in Burma for over 200 yrs and that as "the country was poor, asking them to pay such a huge money was not a good idea".
Of course, today, there are still about 2% of the country's population of Indian heritage, though the mix may be a littler more heterogenous. There is a mini India in Myanmar though even today. Ziyawadi as it is known, houses significant population. However, the Tamils, who formed the majority, face a cultural crisis in some ways, with little connect to their heritage roots.
Some of these Burmese Indians have been rather successful. One such person was the founder of the fantastic Burmese vegetarian restaurant chain Burma Burma. From their website:
Our journey in food is inspired by a story that traces back its origins to the year 1960. Thousands of Burmese Indians were forced to flee the country owing to a military coup, and among them was our co-founder, Ankit Gupta’s mother, Mrs Urmila Gupta. She was born to a family of businessmen in the quaint village of Prome (now Pyay). The move meant leaving behind everything familiar to adapt to her new life in Bombay. All that was left was a treasure trove of memories and recipes from her erstwhile home in Burma.
(this is a detour from the usual theme. Will come back soon with more on Himalayan states)
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