Former CJA President President Mahendra Ved looks back at the expulsion of Ugandan Indians in the 1970s
The first encounter this New Delhi-based journalist had with Indians, mostly Gujaratis, who had been expelled from Uganda, was in 1972. They had been put on a flight to India against their wishes. Squatting at the British High Commission added to their misfortune. They were denied the basic facility to use the toilet and the mission’s gates were closed on them.
After several days, their agitation succeeded, with sympathy from the Delhites and media support. They were taken to England.
Fast-forward to 1987. Lost in Stanmore, a London suburb, I instinctively waved at a passing car. Instant help came from this Uganda-Gujarati, who took me home, located my destination from the local guidebook, drove me to it and waited till I waved thanks,
On the way, he narrated how thousands of families of businessmen, civil servants and mid-level managers from plantations and trading stations in Uganda’s Jinja, Gulu and Kampala had begun new lives in Bristol, Leicester, London and beyond, in Canada and Australia. Taking up jobs and running newspaper stalls and motels, these people symbolised hard work and human resilience.
The first encounter this New Delhi-based journalist had with Indians, mostly Gujaratis, who had been expelled from Uganda, was in 1972. They had been put on a flight to India against their wishes. Squatting at the British High Commission added to their misfortune. They were denied the basic facility to use the toilet and the mission’s gates were closed on them. After several days, their agitation succeeded, with sympathy from the Delhites and media support. They were taken to England.
Fast-forward to 1987. Lost in Stanmore, a London suburb, I instinctively waved at a passing car. Instant help came from this Uganda-Gujarati, who took me home, located my destination from the local guidebook, drove me to it and waited till I waved thanks.
Anti-Indian sentiment
Most Indians in Uganda, once called the “pearl of Africa”, were Gujaratis and Marwaris, who excelled at business and entrepreneurship. They had come to dominate trade in many African countries under British colonial policies. Since they controlled so much in Uganda, President Idi Amin felt insecure. But he was also a brutal dictator to fellow Africans.
The expulsion took place against the backdrop of anti-Indian sentiment and black supremacy in Uganda, with Amin accusing the Indian minority of disloyalty, non-integration, and commercial malpractice, claims that Indian leaders disputed.
This was not the first. Uganda’s 30,000-strong Kenyan minority had been expelled earlier in 1969–70. Milton Obote’s government had pursued a policy of “Africanisation” which included policies targeted at Ugandan Indians. The 1968 Committee on the “Africanisation in Commerce and Industry”, for example, had made far-reaching Indophobic proposals and a system of work permits and trade licences was introduced in 1969 to restrict the role of non-citizen Indians in economic and professional activities. Nevertheless, Amin’s harsh policies represented a significant acceleration.
At the time of the expulsion, there were approximately 80,000 individuals of South Asian origin — Indians, Pakistanis, and Bangladeshis — of whom 23,000 had their applications for citizenship processed and accepted. A further 50,000 were British passport holders.
Fact and fiction
The expulsion did significant damage to both Uganda’s economy and international reputation. Many world leaders condemned the expulsion and several nations, particularly the United Kingdom and India, cut diplomatic ties as a result. Old records say the economy suffered a significant drop in GDP as many native Ugandans lacked the expertise necessary to operate their newly acquired businesses.
Why Amin expelled South Asians remains a mix of fact and fiction. One story was that he was keen to marry an Indian lady who rejected his overture. Some of Amin’s former supporters suggest that it followed a dream in which, he claimed, Allah had told him to expel them. He also allegedly plotted vengeance against the British government for refusing to provide him with arms to invade neighbouring Tanzania. Amin, of course, defended the expulsion by arguing that he was giving Uganda back to the ethnic Ugandans.
Amin’s decrees drew immediate worldwide condemnation. The Indian government warned Uganda of dire consequences but took no action when Amin’s government ignored the ultimatum. Initially, India maintained diplomatic ties with Uganda but later severed diplomatic relations with Amin’s regime. The United Kingdom froze a £10.4 million loan which had been arranged the previous year; Amin ignored this. Journalists Tony Avirgan and Martha Honey described the expulsion as “the most explicitly racist policy ever adopted in black Africa.”
Policy reversal
The military dictator, accused of killing hundreds of thousands of people, was ousted from power and died in exile in Saudi Arabia in 2003.
Fifty-two years have passed since the expulsions.. Many Indians returned to Uganda after the policy reversal under Yoweri Museveni, the current president. During the 19th Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Kampala last month, he called Amin’s policies “a mistake.” The Indian returnees to his country, he said, contributed to Uganda’s economic development, including setting up 900 new factories.
Much has changed since, but sad, bitter memories linger on. A book published in 2022 by Lucy Fulford, an Australian writer whose grandparents were expelled from Uganda, recalls those events with a new perspective. She writes of many Asian homes in Leicester and London displaying two framed photographs. One is of Idi Amin; the other is of Edward Heath, the British prime minister who allowed them in. It is double gratitude: “Thanks for throwing us out — and thanks for taking us in.”
Expulsion of people from their homes, for whatever reasons (political, economic, ethnic and religious), nor migration — voluntary, forced, legal and illegal – has not stopped in the new century. Nor is it likely to, the way Rohingyas are being pushed out of Myanmar, or Pakistan sends back the Afghans. These are but two more examples adding to the Ukraine and Gaza conflicts that have triggered more refugees.
Hence, the book raises a universal question that the world is unable to answer: Where, exactly, is home?
