Independent senator and President of the national Council of Indian Culture Deoroop Teemal lobbies for Indian Arrival Day and Emancipation to be used for nation building.
00:00Aside from Independence Day and Republic Day, there are two other public holidays which according to President of the National Council for Indian Culture can also be constituted as nation building days.
00:14Emancipation Day and Indian Arrival Day, to me, needs to be put in the mold of nation building.
00:24For I believe that these two holidays, through the experiences of our African brothers and sisters who came under the system of slavery and our Indian forefathers who came under the Indian system, provides a rich background filled with potential for us to explore.
00:54The shaping of our nation and nation building.
00:59There is a profound significance, he says, in celebrating the 180th anniversary of the arrival and 30 years since Indian Arrival Day was declared a public holiday in TNT.
01:12What next?
01:15And I believe that our role is to really immerse ourselves in nation building to take our country of Trinidad and Tobago forward.
01:28In a united, cohesive, productive way that every citizen of Trinidad and Tobago shares in the diversity that is the foundation of our nation and feels comfortable within the diversity that there is in our country.
01:49And feel proud and be knowledgeable about each other's history, each other's past.
01:59And that's because.
02:01For our aspirations are common.
02:04We all seek a good country.
02:06We all seek prosperity.
02:08We all seek a good life.
02:09Independent Senator Darup Timal says he disagrees with a narrative emerging this year that Indian Arrival Day celebrations have been dominated by Hindus at the exclusion of other groups in the Indian community.
02:23I am issuing a call to the heritage center of the ANCIC for us to do the research and Dr. Premier Gupta, the chair of the heritage center, is here.
02:39There lies an inspiration, Timal says, in the fact that more than 75% of the Indian indentured laborers coming to TNT were under the age of 35.
03:09Indian Arrival Day is about the triumph of youth.
03:18And what is this possible when young people are challenged what they are capable of?
03:25So within Indian Arrival Day, there is this powerful message for the youth of our nation.
03:31Because we have exemplars in the 143,000 of our fathers who came here.
03:43It's a shining example of youth development, of youth harnessing responsibilities, of youth charting a way forward, and of youth becoming leaders of future generations.
03:59Timal was speaking at a cultural celebration at the Diwali Nagar site in Shogunas.
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