Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship Krishan Anand Memorial Lecture: Krishan Kumar Anand’s Bristol life Rohit Barot
I am delighted to give an outline of Krishan Kumar Anand’s life in Bristol. I knew him as a leading figure in the local Indian community. In 1985 I had an ESRC research award to look at Bristol South Asian groups. During my fieldwork, I remember interviewing Krishan at length for three hours on 18th February 1986. His elder brother Sushil who lives in Canada has inspired and funded this Krishan Anand Memorial Lecture. I am grateful to him for sending me some additional information that includes a copy of my letter of thanks to Krishan in February 86. In this brief introduction, before I focus on Krishan, it is useful to give the historical background to Indian presence in Bristol. It is worth noting that separate Indian and Pakistani national identities were consolidated more after 1947. Then East Pakistan became Bangladesh in 1972 and made the Bangladeshi identity a new reality. Let me start with my brief historical sketch to establish continuity of the Indian presence in Bristol from the earlier part of the 19th century to post colonial arrival of South Asians like Krishan Kumar to Bristol.
The 19th century social reformer Raja Rammohan Roy was one of the more well-known visitors to Britain in 1830. He visited Bristol in September 1833 to meet his Christian Unitarian friends known as the Carpenter family. Soon after his arrival in Bristol, he caught meningitis and died here. He was buried in Stapleton Grove from where Dwarkanath Tagore had his remains transferred
to Arnos Vale Cemetery. His body lies in an Indian style monument called chatri to this day and attracts many Indians who come to pay homage to him in late September. In 1990s, Bristol Indians and Communities Organised for Greater Bristol campaigned successfully to place Roy’s statue in a prominent place in the city. The Indian High Commissioner Dr L M Singhvi inaugurated Roy’s beautiful bronze bust by Niranjan Pradhan in the Council House in 1995. From 1997, Pradhan’s magnificent statue of Rammohan Roy stands in front of Bristol Cathedral. His gaze is turned to the west while Queen Victoria stands at the other end of the green looking eastwards, . The Memory of Rammohan Roy is now and enduring feature of history of Bristol.
From the beginning of 20th century, it is possible to show that some Indian visitors like Sukhsagar Datta, were going to settle permanently in Bristol. According to my findings, Sukhsagar sought safe heaven in England as his elder brother Ullaskar had been involved in a bombing conspiracy in Calcutta. He came to London between 1908 and 1910 and met a Ruby Young of Picton Street, Bristol in London’s Red Lion Square. She brought him to Bristol and he joined the Merchant Venturer College, did his Matriculation examination and joined University of Bristol to study medicine. He qualified as a doctor and spent his entire working life in UK. Dr Datta held strong anti-colonial socialist views and became an active member of Bristol Borough Labour Party and also presented a National Union of Railwaymen resolution for independence of India to 1944 Labour Party National Conference.
The partition of India in 1947 had forced Krishan’s family to leave Sialkot in
what used to be West Pakistan to Amritsar. Krishan and his brother Sushil had their education in Punjab. Sushil came to Bristol in 1956 and did a diploma course in Drama Department but subsequently opened a restaurant called Kashmir and a casino and a night club. Krishan joined him in 1961 and worked with Sushil though he is known to have wanted to do a doctoral degree. His experience of Kashmir restaurant prompted him to get his own two hotels: Kingsley Hotel and Central Hotel which he ran successfully.
Dr Datta had founded Bristol Indian Association in 1947 and had both Indian and non-Indian membership as it is evident from the photographs of social gatherings at the time. Krishan participated actively in Bristol Indian Association that subsequently became Avon Indian Council. He believed firmly that people of South Asian origin should develop a common front to campaign against discrimination and exclusion. Therefore he strongly supported the formation of a Central Asian Council. Leaders from various South Asian groups were keen to see such an organisation representing all the communities, However, the divide between communities was such as to make it difficult for Central Asian Council to develop a common front to tackle wider issues of discrimination.
He was also a founding member of the first race equality body voluntary liaison committee that led to making of Bristol Race Equality Council. He was a member of the executive committee and a treasurer for the council for many years. He joined the Labour Party and greatly admired Tony Benn, He was an active participant in Redland Labour Group and held position of Vice
Chairperson for several years. Although he supported Bristol Council for Racial Equality, he also believed that people from ethnic minority groups had to play active role in party politics to advance their interest and to secure their rights.
I remember Krishan as a tall handsome man in his immaculate striped suit and his highly courteous and kind demeanour. People in Bristol remember his leading participation in local communities and his passionate concern with equality and equal opportunities for all. He was born on 11th March 1934 and died on 5th January 2003. His estate amounted to ÂŁ 1.2 million and he left it to Krishan Anand Hospital Trust and to Krishan Anand Charitable Trust. His brother Sushil Anand has now arranged to support an annual Krishan Anand Memorial Lecture that will focus some of the issues which contribute to our understanding of achievement of fairness, equality and justice for all and specially for for people of South Asian backgrounds.