Go Rishi! Kenya also treasures its connection, bonds with India!

The Hindus have made a notable socio-economic contribution to Kenya’s development for more than 30 years. The appointment of Rishi Sunak as the Prime Minister of UK shows that the world is morphing to become more accepting of our differences amidst a rising wave of ultra-nationalism.
A 2020 video of Rishi Sunak lighting candles outside a door on Downing Street was shared extensively on social media, and irked some.

Who saw this coming? David Cameron, the former UK Prime Minister did during his visit in 2010 to Bangalore, India. Need I say that 44th US President Barack Obama’s lineage threads its way back to Kenya.

On the flipside, as Kenya claims Rishi Sunak and India’s other sons and daughters of Kenyan heritage blazing the trail across the globe, it should also own up its mistakes. Kenyans of Asian origin, in this case Hindus, have a sharper understanding of xenophobia — a dislike or fear of strangers or foreigners. Despite their tremendous contributions in various disciplines like medicine, grammar, dance, mathematics, they are still predominantly associated with their “esoteric” spiritual practices.

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History is replete with the contribution of Hindus to the concept of zero, the modern numerical and decimal system, quadratic equation and trigonometry. In medicine, the Sushruta Samhita (600 B.C) is considered the first detailed text with decisive description of surgical procedures and instruments which, with modifications, are conceptually used today.

As Mr Cameron peered into the future, he also observed that at the height of the industrial revolution in the United States, they said, ‘Go west, young man, in order to find opportunity and fortune.’ “For today’s investors and entrepreneurs, they should go east,” he advised.

The role of Hindus in Kenya’s economy cannot be overstated, but they gradually developed a siege-mentality which made them reclusive at times. Rishi Sunak’s family was one of the many that emigrated to UK shortly after Kenya’s independence.

The Hindu Council of Kenya (HCK) was formed shortly after the Ugandan-Asian crisis of 1973 when Asians were given an ultimatum by the Uganda’s third President Idi Amin Dada to leave Uganda. “We started the HCK because we didn’t have a collective voice to air our problems to the government,” said Vanraj Sarvaiya, the National Chairman of HCK.

Amin, considered a despot, perceived Hindu as ruthless exploiters and a drain to the economy of the East African state. The post-election violence in 2007 rekindled these memories of recrimination; Asian businesses lost an estimated KSh 0.5 billion in Kisumu. The violence this time did not target Hindus as a community; their economic success evoked envy. A section of indigenous Africans often links their business success to tightly guarded ethnic resources and community networks that lock out the rest.

The Hindu community businesses are critical to the Kenyan economy; they range from small shops to expansive multinationals in the manufacturing, retail and construction industry though popular perception about their hoarding money have made them tread cautiously in enterprise.

A renowned business columnist once lamented that Hindus are viewed as “strange people, with funny accents, penny-pinching ways and strange gods.” These misconceptions, said Sarvaiya, “inspired the creation of a body that would coordinate their social, religious and cultural activities in Kenya.”

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The realisation that interaction with various indigenous communities and religious organisations would foster understanding, nudged them to initiate religious and cultural training programmes open even to non-Asians.

Hindus migrated from India, mostly at the turn of the century, primarily as construction workers on the Kenya Uganda Railways and as traders. Often, their success in entrepreneurship is traced to favourable social-economic position when they set foot in East Africa.

At the onset, Asians were able to produce account books in their own languages. Their ability to read and write and hence communicate gave them a head start over African traders. They were therefore used by Arabs and the British to avail credit and trading facilities in the East African region.

They participated in the Kenya independence struggle through involvement in the Mau Mau uprising against British colonialism. Despite being a predominately black-white struggle, India through its high commissioner, Appa Saheb Pant, and the Kenyan freedom fighter, Pio Gama Pinto, gave strategic and material support to the movement.

When they eventually settled down after independence, they formed social groups on ethnicity, geographical background and languages, built halls, temples and centres for performing arts for preserving Hindu ethos and made indispensable contributions in civil service, trade union movement, education, health, legal, construction, and political sectors.

At one time, the Asian population in Kenya was approximated to be 70,000; it has since dwindled as the younger generation continues to migrate to developed countries for education and in search of greater fortunes.
They have been lobbying for creating a good environment for their participation in governance. “Asians are good in trade; we would do well if we were in charge of the ministry of trade,” said Sarvaiya.

Besides working with NGOs, the Hindu community is one of the largest donor to charities through social and religious institutions of the council feeding programmes, medical camps, bursaries to students or distribution of learning material to the needy.

Jalaram Satsang Mandal and Hale Krishna Temple feed hundreds of poor people every day. Free eye and ENT camps held every year facilitate hundreds of operations, give out over 4,000 glasses and spend KSh 5 million each year.
Sarvaiya says HCK religious principles on nationalism are not just lip service. Indeed, HCK played a key role in alleviating the sufferings of internally displaced persons after the post-election violence.
Besides material support, HCK has also made modest contribution to the country’s knowledge base.

It has set up a public library with a unique collection of books on spirituality, philosophy, culture, astronomy, scriptures, mythology and yoga. The facility is open to any individual interested in these subjects for general reading or research. Yoga and meditation are perhaps the most widely recognised spiritual contributions of Hinduism to humanity.

Sarvaiya noted that apart from transcendental concepts of spiritual practice, Hinduism has been a wellspring for vast contributions to global civilisation spanning more than five millennia. As a religious practice aspiring to understand the eternal mysteries of existence, Hinduism has never been a regressive or closed dogma satisfied with history-centred interpretations of one holy book, he adds.

Perhaps, those irked by Rishi Sunak lighting candles outside a door on Downing Street could do with Sarvaiya’s honest take on religious and cultural diversity. Like David Cameron, we should have seen the coming of Sunak. The ascendancy of Asian origin CEOs in multinationals like Google, Microsoft, Adobe, Twitter and Starbucks among others, was enough of a harbinger.

The author is a strategic communications consultant based in Nairobi, Kenya.

(Disclaimer: The views of the writer do not represent the views of WION or ZMCL. Nor does WION or ZMCL endorse the views of the writer.)