Panday: Local Govt, a day of liberation

OPPOSITION Leader Basdeo Panday has likened the Local Government elections to the French Revolution of 1789, accusing Prime Minister Patrick Manning of behaving like a “King” in the management of the country’s affairs.

Incidentally, the date for Local Government elections also coincides with France’s National Day (July 14), which commemorates the start of the French Revolution. Panday told a meeting in Gasparillo on Tuesday night, that polling day must be an auspicious occasion for UNC supporters. Panday, perhaps for the first time, devoted an entire hour-long address to accusing Manning of favouring supporters of the PNM. He said Manning cried “crocodile tears” during a meeting in Chaguanas last Friday, lamenting the fact that the PNM was not attracting more people of East Indian descent.

A visibly upset Panday said he was troubled by the perpetuation of racism geared at the East Indian community. With anger etched clearly on his face, Panday described as “distasteful”, Laventille East/Morvant MP Fitizgerald Hinds’ outburst in the House of Representatives last week Wednesday, in which he (Hinds) described Opposition MPs as a hostile group of recalcitrant minorities. Panday said he was justified in calling upon UNC supporters to liken Local Government Election day as a day of liberation, “just like the French did.” “And you all must get rid of King Manning, who thinks he has a divine right to rule,” Panday told the small crowd that had gathered. In obvious reference to the French people breaking open the jail gates of Bastille (a jail fortress built by the French King), Panday told supporters that July 14, like in France, should be Bastille Day in Trinidad and Tobago. Panday reiterated, “Vote out King Patrick on Bastille Day. It will mark a new era of Government by all the people.”