Written by Vanessa Narine
MRS. Janet Jagan’s struggles for cause and country were remembered by family members, friends and well-wishers Friday at the Umana Yana during a Night of Reflection organised to commemorate her 93rd birth anniversary. Born Janet Rosenburg on October 20, 1920 in the United States of America, the late First Lady and President, Mrs Janet Jagan, was hailed as a hero who had touched thousands of lives in her fight to transform the nation’s landscape.Poetry, excerpts from past speeches, and testimonials from people whose lives were impacted in one way or the other were the evening’s highlights, all of which depicted Guyana’s first female President as an indefatigable freedom fighter and working class champion.

One poem by a student of Queen’s College, titled ‘Courage is the woman from afar’, captured Jagan Rosenburg’s spirit in marrying the coloured Cheddi Jagan in the days of widespread racial segregation in North America, making Guyana her home, and becoming one of the foremost fighters for the freedoms Guyanese enjoy today.

Fondly called ‘JJ’ by those close to her, she came to British Guiana in December 1943, and worked for 10 years as a Dental Nurse in Dr Cheddi Jagan’s clinic, preceding her foray into the political arena.

In 1946, Mrs. Jagan founded the Women’s Political and Economic Organisation, later called WPO.
The current President of the WPO, Indranie Chandarpal, described Mrs. Jagan as a visionary to whom social justice was important. “She was also fiercely independent,” Mrs. Chandarpal said. According to her, Mrs. Jagan’s personality was complex, touching lives in different ways.

The WPO President also lauded Mrs Jagan’s ability to wield her pen as a weapon in the fight for women’s rights, among other causes close to her heart. “She was the kind of leader who talked the talk and walked the walk,” Chandarpal said, stressing that Mrs. Jagan’s life was undoubtedly an inspiration to many.

POLITICAL TESTS
General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP), Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee, whose formative years in politics were spent with the Jagans, contended that Mrs. Jagan’s political life was full of testings. He said three major tests in her career were her six-month sentence to prison; her stint as Home Affairs Minister, with the role of maintaining public order during the difficult period spanning 1961 to 1964; and her functioning as President of Guyana in a five-year term cut short by two years because of political turmoil.

He said Mrs. Jagan’s career in politics began when she co-founded the Political Affairs Committee (PAC). According to Rohee, Mrs. Jagan made significant contributions to Guyana, supporting her husband in politics, her fight for women’s rights, and her work in the growth and development of the men.

“Her struggle should inspire us…Every one of us benefits from the contributions she made…Janet Jagan was a hero,” Rohee said.

The PPP General Secretary said Mrs Jagan’s will and determination were like greenheart pillars on which a building rests.

In 1950, she co-founded the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), and was elected party General Secretary, holding that post between 1950 and 1970. She was, since then, a member of the PPP General Council, Central Committee and Executive Committee, and also served as International Secretary and Executive Secretary.

In 1953, Mrs. Jagan was one of the three women to enter the House of Assembly as a representative of the Essequibo constituency, and was the first woman to become Deputy Speaker of the Legislature.

The constituency of Essequibo re-elected Mrs Jagan to the Legislature, and she was appointed Minister of Labour, Health and Housing in 1957. On the death of the Minister of Home Affairs, Mr Claude Christian, in 1963, Mrs Jagan became Minister of Home Affairs and a member of the Senate; but she resigned that ministerial portfolio in 1964 in protest over incidents at Wismar.

After the PPP had ended a boycott of Parliament to protest the rigging of elections in 1973, she returned to the House as an opposition MP, and served in the House continuously. She was returned in 1980, 1985 and 1992. In April 1997, she became the longest serving member of Parliament.

Rohee said that if Mrs Jagan were alive, she would have wanted the continued unity of her party, racial and working class unity in Guyana, and the continued fight against falsehoods being propagated.

THE WORKING MAN
She contested the 1947 general elections under limited franchise in Central Georgetown, but lost; and in 1948, she participated in raising funds for the East Coast Demerara sugar strike which was put down by colonial police, and became acquainted with the men who were to become the Enmore Martyrs.

Mr Seepaul Narine, current General Secretary of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), recalled that Mrs. Jagan’s struggles always held the workers in mind. “She stood unwavering in the struggle of the workers…she was a lifelong supporter and partner,” Narine said.

Narine elaborated that Mrs Jagan had walked behind the horse cart that took the bodies of the Enmore Martyrs to the cemetery.

The GAWU General Secretary noted that Mrs. Jagan’s selfless contributions to Guyana assured her a place in the nation’s history, and inspires the emulation of the same struggles and ideals.

General Secretary of the Rice Producers Association (RPA), Dharamkumar Seeraj, echoed sentiments that were similar to those of Seepaul Narine’s. He said Mrs Jagan’s work had touched more than the working men and women whose rights she had fought for; it inspired, and continues to inspire, an entire generation.

Seeraj said that being associated with the Progressive Youth Organisation (PYO) and then working with Freedom House had caused him to see firsthand Mrs Jagan’s impact on youths.
“She has, without a doubt, influenced my approach to life and work,” he said.

ALWAYS A FIRST LADY
In 1992, after the first free and fair elections had been held in post-independent Guyana, Mrs. Jagan was designated First Lady of the Republic of Guyana, and continued her work as Editor of the Mirror newspaper.

Close to Mrs. Jagan was Mrs Philomena Sahoye-Shury, who recalled that Mrs Jagan was always a First Lady, mainly because of her dedication to the people of Guyana.

Sahoye-Shury added that growing up and listening to Mrs. Jagan speak for the first time had inspired her. “She will always be remembered by those who knew her, and those who read our history and realise how much the Jagans contributed to Guyana and how much they sacrificed,” Sahoye-Shury said.
On March 17, 1997, Mrs. Jagan was sworn in as Guyana’s first female Prime Minister and First Vice-President; and on December 19, 1997, she was sworn in as the first female President of the Republic of Guyana, and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of Guyana. She has since been honoured with Guyana’s highest award, the Order of Excellence, and recognised with the Woman of Achievement award from the University of Guyana.
In 1997, UNECSO awarded Mrs. Jagan the Gandhi Gold Medal for Peace, Democracy and Women’s Rights.

The ‘blue-eyed bowjee’, as Mrs. Jagan was fondly called, died on March 28, 2009.
Documentation on the life, work and ideas of Mrs. Jagan and Dr. Jagan is available at the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre, more commonly called Red House, in Kingston, Georgetown.