Indian-origin granny is PM of Trinidad

A 58-year-old woman of Indian-origin, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, was elected the first woman prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago. A former Spanish colony, Trinidad and Tobago is a south Carribean island nation.

A 58-year-old woman of Indian-origin, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, was elected the first woman prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago.

HT Image

Persad-Bissessar’s People’s Partnership won 29 of the 41 parliamentary seats in Monday’s elections, ending the ruling party’s 43-year rule.

A former Spanish colony, Trinidad and Tobago is a south Carribean island nation. Forty-four per cent of its 1.3 million population is of Indian origin.

“I am grateful for the immense support from women across the country,” Persad-Bissessar, a devout Hindu, said. “I celebrate this victory on their behalf.”

Persad-Bissessar was also the first woman attorney general of her country and served as minister of legal affairs as well as of education.

Her forefather was among the 1,48,000 Indian labourers who were brought here between 1845 and 1917 to work on sugar and cocoa plantations.