Jinja in Uganda is a town where history often overwhelms the occasion.
Built around the source of the Nile, Jinja was discovered in 1862 by the British explorer John Speke. It has one of the biggest Indian communities on the continent. Indians first entered Uganda to trade and then cultivate sugar cane on the banks of the Nile after the First World War. In 1948, Mahatma Gandhi’s ashes were consigned to the swirling waters of the Nile here, and almost 50 years later, in 1997, Prime Minister I.K. Gujral established a bust of the Mahatma by the riverside.
It was to address this enduring link between India and the East African country that Vice-President Hamid Ansari decided to visit Jinja.
Honouring Gandhi
“We are at the source of the Nile and here to honour Mahatma Gandhi,” he said. “The Indian community in Jinja and in Uganda is a key part of our relationship with the country,” he said.
The town is said to be the home of Indian millionaire businessmen Mayur Madhvani and Jay Mehta, who, as Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said, returned to the country after the expulsions of 1972 under Idi Amin. The Bank of Baroda, which set up a branch as far back as 1953, is the town’s primary banker and is heavily invested in the local economy.
The town reflects the complications of the India-Uganda relationship, with Indians, who pay a lion’s share of the taxes, are a tiny minority.
“As far as account holders are concerned, we have a 80:20 ratio of local Ugandans to Indian Ugandans banking with us, but the ratio is reversed when you see the value of business they bring in,” Chandan Jha, a senior manager at the bank, said.
Sanjeev Patel, a businessman from Kampala, says he does not see any economic dominance or even the events of 1972 as hindrances to expanding the footprint of Indian businesses.
