Dear Editor,
Reference is made to “I hope these citations on the 1856 riots satisfy Dev” (Apr 8). The retort is in response to Ravi Dev’s query (Apr 4) about sources for a claim that Indians rioted against Portuguese businesses in the so called Angel Gabriel Riots of 1856. The thrust of Prof Westmaas’s article is Creole riots against Portuguese. According to Westmaas, that information was sourced from Mark Doyle, who in turn cited Monica Schuler. Schuler, in turn, cites a message sent by one Rattray to Tidman and another message by Scott to Tidman, affiliated with the Council for World Mission in UK.
These sources or citations presented by Prof Westmaas are problematic – they do not specify date of Indian involvement in the violence, exact location, size of Indian participation, extent of involvement, how widespread, whether it was ongoing or a lone incident. Ravi Dev raises important points which cast doubts about Indian involvement in the violence. The center of the riots were in Georgetown, where there were hardly any Indians. There was violence elsewhere, but not in places where Indians habituated. Indians, at that time, were mostly confined to the estates, and were subjected to heavy fines for leaving the estates and flogging for minor offenses. Participating in a riot would have been a major offence.
Sincerely,
Vishnu Bisram (PhD)
