As Indians celebrate 178 years of being in Guyana, it is fitting to remember an iconoclastic person who figured prominently as a leader of the Indian community – Dr Jung Bahadur Singh. Jung Singh was a pioneer in many ways. A strong case can be made that JB Singh was indeed responsible for shaping and influencing the political career of Cheddi Jagan. For one, it was JB Singh who advised Jagan’s father in 1935 to “send the boy to study [abroad]” after Cheddi had difficulty securing a job in the civil service. Secondly, when Jagan returned to Guyana in October 1943, his political views were shaped in part by his association with the British Guiana East Indian Association (BGEIA), an influential organisation to which JB Singh was elected President six times.
Jung Bahadur Singh, the eldest son of 13 children, was born in 1886 in Goed Fortuin, West Bank Demerara. He was the eldest of thirteen children. It is widely believed that JB Singh’s father was indentured from Nepal, given his physical features that resembled the people of Nepal. On February 23, 1910, Jung married Alice Bhagwanday, the daughter of Hurdutt Sital Persad from Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana in a ceremony that included a civil marriage, a Christian ceremony and a Hindu wedding. Alice, in her own right, made a tremendous contribution to the uplifting of the culture of Indians in Guyana.
The young Jung, like his grandfather, was trained as a ship compounder and from the age of 16 to 28, a total of 12 years, Jung worked in the medical service on immigrant ships. By last count, he had made 24 trips in all, transporting indentured immigrants from Kolkata (Calcutta), India to overseas colonies such as British Guiana, Dutch Guiana, the Caribbean, South Africa, Mauritius and Fiji. He witnessed the spread of the Indian Diaspora across the globe. The ship doctor was an important person on the ships because he was seen as someone who spoke the language of the Indians, many of whom trusted him during the long journey across the “kalapani”.
Jung Singh completed his medical studies in 1919, and in 1923, he went into private practice in the city of Georgetown. He bought a home at Lamaha Street which became the base of his medical practice, as well as his political and social activities. As early as 1924, Dr Jung Bahadur Singh, as a member of the British Guiana East Indian Association (BGEIA), fought on behalf of workers in the Ruimveldt Massacre. Between 1920 and 1949, he served as President of the BGEIA six times. He was a founder of the orthodox Hindu organisation, the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, and he served as its President from 1934 to 1955. Jung saw the necessity for such an organisation for the preservation of the ancient and revered religion of Indians in the colony.
Dr Singh was the first Hindu to be elected to the Legislative Council in 1931. During his 23 years on the Council, he served on many official committees and boards. As a member of the Franchise Commission, he advocated for universal adult suffrage, many years before Jagan took up the cause. As a member of various legislative committees, he made tremendous contributions in the field of education, labour, health, drainage and irrigation, social welfare, information and publicity, and civil rights. In 1944, he was awarded the OBE.
Dr Jung Bahadur Singh had unsuccessfully introduced a Bill in the Legislative Council to permit cremations as last funeral rites for Hindus. However, after his death in 1956, his body was “officially” cremated at Plantation Ogle foreshore.
Aside from his legislative role, Jung was a Trustee of the Manpower Citizens Association representing trade union rights of sugar workers, founder of the British Guiana Nurses’ Association, co-founder of the Indian Educational Trust College, Sanatan Dharma (Hindu) elder, and President of the British Guiana Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha. A forthcoming book, JUNG BAHADUR SINGH and the Shaping of the Indian Imagination in Guyana by this author, takes a closer look at JB Singh’s contributions during the pre-independence era.
