President Droupadi Murmu visits Aapravasi Ghat, and pays tributes to brave Mauritian ancestors

Port Louis: President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday paid tributes to the brave Mauritian ancestors at Aapravasi Ghat and International Slavery Museum here.

Murmu is here on a three-day state visit during which she was the chief guest at the country's National Day celebrations on Tuesday.

On Wednesday," President Droupadi Murmu paid tributes to the brave Mauritian ancestors at Aapravasi Ghat and International Slavery Museum in Port Louis," the President of India posted X.

"President Murmu climbed the same 16 stone steps from where the first indentured workers from India began their new lives in Mauritius, nearly two centuries ago. President Murmu was warmly welcomed at both sites by performers of Bhojpuri Geet Gawai and Sega, unique musical traditions of Mauritius," the post read on X.

President Droupadi Murmu paid tributes to the brave Mauritian ancestors at Aapravasi Ghat and International Slavery Museum in Port Louis.

President Murmu climbed the same 16 stone steps from where the first indentured workers from India began their new lives in Mauritius,… pic.twitter.com/TusRO8tQzu

— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) March 13, 2024

Aapravasi Ghat is where the modern indentured labour diaspora began. In 1834, the British Government selected the island of Mauritius to be the first site for what it called ‘the great experiment’ in the use of ‘free’ labour to replace slaves.

Between 1834 and 1920, almost half a million indentured labourers arrived from India at Aapravasi Ghat to work in the sugar plantations of Mauritius, or to be transferred to Reunion Island, Australia, southern and eastern Africa or the Caribbean.

The Intercontinental Slavery Museum is one of the key recommendations of the Truth and Justice Commission of Mauritius, which established public platforms in 2009 to investigate the legacy of slavery and indentured labour from colonial times to the present day. It was the world’s first truth commission specifically dedicated to slavery.

Her presence at the 56th anniversary of the Independence and 32nd anniversary of the Republic of Mauritius marks a momentous occasion for the India-Mauritius special partnership, the Ministry of External Affairs said.

Murmu was also conferred with the honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law by the University of Mauritius, demonstrating the depth of bilateral ties.