New York street named after Indian origin community leader

Last month, a formal and elaborate ceremony was held at Queen's Richmond Hill, New York City, to unveil a street sign named after

Pandit Ramlall

, a popular Indian Guyanese and Indian American community and religious leader.

New York City council woman Adrienne Adams had presented the proposal to rename the street after

Ramlall

, who died in January 2019, for approval. It was accepted without dissension and signed into law by New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Ramlall was active during the independence movement of Guyana and migrated to the US in 1979, and worked at a hospital in Brooklyn. He was a trade unionist who organised workers at the hospital. He was also well known in New York among politicians and

Indo-Caribbean

community leaders. He hailed from

Skeldon in Region Six

(East Berbice-Corentyne) in Guyana.

Ramlall taught himself Hindi, and later taught the subject at the

Tagore Memorial School

in Guyana. He was head of the Arya Samaj movement in Upper Corentyne.

In 1974, Ramlall left Guyana to study Hindi at an Indian university, where he received a diploma. In New York, he was active in the Arya Samaj movement and helped in founding two Arya Samaj Mandirs and played a role in the formation of the confederation of Arya Samaj Mandirs. He was also closely involved in the launch of the

Phagwah

parade and Ramayana in the Park. An accredited pandit, he also performed wedding ceremonies for many Guyanese, Trinidadians, and Indians.

Ashook Ramsaran, president of Indian Diaspora Council and chair of the Pandit Ramlall Way Street Naming Committee, led the campaign to name the street after Ramlall. Ramsaran takes pride in achieving this remarkable success and feels it is a well-deserved tribute to the late pandit.

"Unveiling of the Pandit Ramlall Way street sign was a wonderful celebration and a tribute to a man we respect and admire. Once in a while during our lifetime, we discover a shining jewel among us and it is our duty to give well-deserved admiration, respect, tribute and recognition – that is, to make a lasting tribute and remembrance to the life and legacy of the late Dharmacharya Pandit Ramlall," he said.

He led a team of dedicated members who developed an extensive dossier justifying the street name in honour of Ramlall. "We have put it on the map, always visible to everyone and be remembered for generations. June 27, 2021, will be remembered as another historic moment of recognition for Guyanese Americans in New York following the unveiling of Ramesh Kalicharran Way, Officer Jonathan Narain Way, Punjab Ave and Gurdwara Way and

Little Guyana Avenue

– in Queens, New York."