Thaindian News

Patna, Jan 10 (IANS) When Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar visits her ancestral village in Bihar for the first time Wednesday, she will mark the return to her roots by planting five saplings, officials said.

Persad-Bissessar, whose ancestors migrated from Bihar to the Caribbean islands in the 19th century, will visit Bhelupur in Itarhi block of Buxar district, about 125 km from here.

District official Bharat Bhusan said she would plant five trees - neem, pakad, pipal, ashok and barh - near Sipariya Kali Mandir where her ancestral home was once located.

She will be offered traditional Bihari dishes - litti chokha, chura and tilwa.

Ahead of her visit, excited residents volunteered labour to build a nearly 4,000 sq feet long road in 48 hours.

According to district officials, some villagers are busy cleaning the hamlet and others are helping local authorities in preparations for her visit.

Persad-Bissessar’s ancestors are said to have migrated as Girmitiya labourers to Trinidad and Tobago, then a British colony in the Caribbean islands, in the 19th century.

According to an official record sent by the Trinidad and Tobago government to Bihar, Persad-Bissessar’s great-grandfather Ram Lakhan Mishra had left Bhelupur in 1889.

An official in Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s office said Persad-Bissessar, the first woman prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, will meet her relatives during the visit.

She was in India to attend the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas or diaspora meet.