Indo-Atlantic connection: Faroe Islands' top diplomat's Indian heritage bridges cultures

In what is a captivating tale of heritage and diplomacy, the top diplomat of the Faroe Islands, John Rajani's Indian ancestry forms a unique connection between the two sides. With an area of around 1400 square km, the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic is an autonomous territory of Denmark and has a population of just around 50,000 people. Rajani is the permanent secretary and is currently in India as part of the delegation of the PM of Faroe Island, Aksel Vilhelmson Johannesen.

Speaking to WION, Rajani said: "Being a half Indian, and travelling a lot to India, being allowed to experience the culture of India...being able to regularly interact with my family in Mumbai, it has given myself and my family something which we, which I treasure and appreciate very much because it has given me the opportunity to learn 2 cultures, not only the culture of my own country, the Faroe Islands but also the culture of India, which is so different in many ways."

Rajani's father, Gordhan Rajani, migrated from Sindh's Shikarpur to Mumbai after the partition of India, enduring the hardships of displacement. 

"He had to leave with his family everything and they had to travel with the vessel from Karachi as refugees," Rajani pointed out. 

Forced to navigate the challenges of being refugees, the Rajani family stayed in a refugee camp for two years. Despite the adversities, they secured an education, with Gordhan ultimately earning his medical degree in Mumbai. He later travelled to the United Kingdom and then to the Faroe Islands.

"In 1964 he came to the Faroe Islands as a medical doctor. And of course, in the small island group, with not very many medical doctors, he was a very good doctor," Rajani explained. 

Also read | Faroe Island PM Johannesen keen on collaborating with India on fishing, tourism, and arctic

The Faroe Islands, with their need for medical professionals, became a new home for the Rajani family. John's mother, then an 18-year-old student nurse in the Faroe Islands, met Gordhan Rajani, and the rest, as they say, became part of history. 

"My father always made an effort to bring us back to India. So every second year, the whole family travelled to India." John's upbringing in the Faroe Islands thus included a biennial return to India, creating a bridge between his Faroese and Indian identities.

Witnessing India's evolution

"So I have been fortunate for the last 40 years to see the development of India. For many years, India was very poor... but then also seeing the development of India, it has been impressive for me as an observer coming regularly, to see what's happening in this country," said John Rajani, a regular visitor to India, acknowledging the significant transformations India has undergone over the decades.

Important to know, India and Faroe Islands have a double taxation treaty. This is because in the 1970s, a development project in Tamil Nadu was underway with Faroese-designed boats built in glass fibre for the fishermen in Tamil Nadu.

Rajani's story is a story of a strong Indian connection at the highest level of working of the governments, from bureaucracy to politics. In Western Europe, the UK's PM Rishi Sunak is of Indian origin, while Ireland's Taoiseach (Prime Minister of Ireland) Leo Varadkar traces his Indian ancestry to his father. From the US to Guyana, from Singapore to Mauritius, several world leaders have Indian ancestry today.