A dusty UP village welcomes its grandson, Guyana’s President

‘‘I am emotional … it is a humbling experience,’’ Jagdeo told reporters today as he landed on his ancestral soil. ‘‘Today, I think about my grandfather who had left the village — what was going in his mind at that time, I do not know. He was a brave man,’’ Jagdeo said.

The President’s grandfather Ram Jiyawan left for Guyana to work as labourer in sugarcane fields along with his wife in 1912 when he was just 17. Ram Dulari, 90, sister of President’s grandfather, is still alive. ‘‘I still remember Ram Jiyawan. Fed up with poverty he left the village — he was right. His grandson is the President of a country today,’’ she said.

It was an emotional sight. On his knees, the President held his grandaunt Ram Dulari’s hand. ‘‘I am happy to meet you,’’ he told her in English. ‘‘Welcome to your homeland,’’ she replied in Awadhi.

Jagdeo also lit a ceremonial lamp at the piece of land which villagers said belonged to his ancestors. Villagers showered him with gifts including copies of Ramayana and Bhagavat Gita. ‘‘We are poor. So we decided to present him religious books,’’ said Prem Prakash, a member of the President’s extended family. People climbed up in vantage points to catch a glimpse of their pride in this village of 227. ‘‘He looks just like one of us,’’ said Lal Bahadur. Their only lament: Jagdeo didn’t stay on for long, he left after 40 minutes. ‘‘There was no interaction with us,’’ said Gayadin, who waited since morning to meet the President. Jagdeo reached the village accompanied by MoS for External Affairs Digvijay Singh while Satish Sharma, MP from adjacent Rae Bareli, joined him later. It was a tough job for officials to locate the village of President’s ancestors. ‘‘The description of the visiting dignitary’s village sent to us by the Guyana High Commission was of the early 20th century. Things have changed drastically since then,’’ District Magistrate M P Agarwal told The Indian Express. ‘‘There are at least a dozen villages in UP with ‘Thakura’ as the suffix or prefix. First, we managed to shortlist three villages and later, after talking to villagers and other elderly persons, we came to the conclusion that Thakurain ka purwa was the actual home of the President’s ancestors,’’ Agarwal said. About 50 per cent of Guyana’s 700,000-strong populace is ethnic Indian, descended from contract labourers who started migrating from UP in 1838.