The end of an ugly chapter, and a new beginning! That’s how Deputy Prime Minister Professor Biman Prasad referred to yesterday’s events marking Girmit Day in Suva.
In a show of support, India’s Minister of State for External Affairs Rajkumar Ranjan Singh said the special day would ensure what he termed the hard lessons and details of the girmitya and their descendants would be passed on for generations.
As hundreds of people gathered at Albert Park in Suva to mark the day yesterday, Prof Prasad spoke about what he described as an “ugly chapter” in our history, and about forging a new beginning for descendants of the girmitya in Fiji.
There was work to be done in healing the heartache of the past and he noted the reconciliation church service organised by the Methodist Church in Fiji and Rotuma as a positive step forward to building a strong bond between Fijians of Indian descent and the iTaukei and other races in Fiji.
“Because the Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka gave it top priority, it marks the start of an age in which the girmitya descendants and their offspring can remember and share history with the country,” he said.
The celebrations started on Friday and ended with the inaugural Girmit Day public holiday yesterday.
