With Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting Trinidad and Tobago as part of his five-nation tour, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday took a nostalgic detour —revisiting former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s landmark 1968 visit to the twin-island nation, the first-ever by an Indian head of government.

Sharing a vintage film clip of Indira’s reception on his X handle, Ramesh highlighted how she was welcomed at the airport by then Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Eric Williams, received a ceremonial guard of honour, and was greeted by enthusiastic crowds lining the streets.

“The Super Premium Frequent Flier PM will be in Trinidad & Tobago today,” Ramesh wrote. “Trinidad and Tobago is a small twin-island republic that has produced a number of world figures. We in India know it as one of the places to which the British took thousands of indentured labour in the 19th century.”

He then listed prominent figures of Indian descent from the Caribbean nation, adding, “Some of their descendants have distinguished themselves in politics, like Basdeo Pandey who was the PM during 1995–2001, and the present PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar; in literature like V.S. Naipaul, who won the Nobel Prize in 2001, and his brother Shiva Naipaul; and in cricket like the spinner Sonny Ramadhin, immortalised in the fabulous Victory Calypso composed after the West Indies had defeated England at Lords for the first time in June 1950.”

Ramesh noted that Trinidad and Tobago's identity extends beyond its Indian connection. “But there is much more to the gloriously multi-racial Trinidad and Tobago than just the connection to India,” he said.

He praised Eric Williams, calling him “a brilliant historian whose book Capitalism and Slavery, first published in 1944, has remained a classic.” Ramesh recalled that Indira Gandhi had “a longish conversation with him on this subject” during her October 1968 visit to Port of Spain and that “the hosts produced a lovely film on her visit.”

The Congress leader also lauded Caribbean intellectual figures, stating, “CLR James was an extraordinary Marxist scholar and activist whose path-breaking works on history, politics, sociology, as well as on cricket, are still read and analysed. More than anybody else, he was responsible for the West Indies to have its first black captain in 1960 in the hugely inspirational and still revered Frank Worrell.”

He further highlighted another key historical link: “George Padmore was an indefatigable campaigner and organiser against British colonialism and he and VK Krishna Menon were comrades in London in the late 1930s especially.”

Touching on the sporting and cultural legacies, Ramesh wrote, “Trinidad and Tobago has produced some of the greatest cricketers of all times like Learie Constantine and Brian Lara. One of India's finest leg-spinners Subhash Gupte settled down there in the early sixties and raised a family.”

He added a contemporary cultural bridge between the two countries: “Two and a half decades later, the Trinidadian linguist Peggy Ramesar Mohan was to settle down in India and subsequently come out with educative and engaging books like Wanderers. Kings. Merchants: The Story of India through its Languages (2021) and Father Tongue, Mother Land: The Birth of Language in South Asia (2025).”

Alongside the video link of Indira Gandhi’s visit, Ramesh also shared the legendary “Victory Calypso” celebrating Sonny Ramadhin and West Indies’ historic win in 1950.

Journalist Rajdeep Sardesai responded to Ramesh’s post, adding another nostalgic layer. “Don’t forget also @Jairam_Ramesh the legendary calypso of Lord Relator when Gavaskar scored all those runs and India beat West Indies in West Indies in 1971 for the first time. Gavaskar, Trinidad and Port of Spain part of Indian cricketing folklore,” he wrote on X.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Modi was received with ceremonial honours at Piarco International Airport by his Trinidadian counterpart Kamla Persad-Bissessar, along with Cabinet ministers and senators present to greet him.

Modi’s visit aims to strengthen bilateral ties with Trinidad and Tobago. He will next travel to Argentina from July 4 to 5, followed by a visit to Brazil for the 17th BRICS Summit and a concluding stop in Namibia.