Who caused Hindus to be under siege?

THE EDITOR: Sat Maharaj received overwhelming support from Dale Enoch and George “Umbala” Joseph for the comments in his weekly column under the headline “Hindus under siege.” In his column on Wednesday August 6, 2003 Mr Maharaj wrote: “The Hindu community is under siege and this is such a time! Our land is soaking daily in the blood of innocents.” Mr Enoch, in his capacity as News Editor of Radio I95.5 interviewed Mr Maharaj the same day to elaborate on his statement in the press. No doubt Mr Enoch was driven by his admiration for Mr Maharaj, a point he makes regularly on his morning programme. I heard Mr George “Umballa” Joseph on Radio who also praised Mr Maharaj for his comments. Mr Joseph took the opportunity to knock the Afro Trinidadians for their inability to follow in the footsteps of our Indo brothers and sisters in various spheres of life. As a citizen of African descent I am offended by the remarks of  Messrs Maharaj and Joseph who seem to enjoy denigrating Afro Trinidadians.

Recently a drug lord Ramdhanie was buried under Hindu rites after he died in prison. Ramdhanie was given a hero’s farewell by villagers and well wishers in Cedros and the funeral was televised by both TV6 and TTT for over four to five minutes in their newscast. I am still waiting to hear from Messrs Maharaj and Joseph about the untold damage perpetrated by this convicted drug lord on the people of our beloved country through his drug trade. Most of the murders and kidnappings that are taking place in our country are as a direct result of the illicit drug trade of which Ramdhanie played a significant and major role. If we are to accept Mr Maharaj’s observations then he must look within to see who are the persons responsible for putting Hindus and indeed the entire country under siege. A word to Mr Joseph, I will never emulate Ramdhanie and I trust my Afro brothers and sisters will follow my footsteps. When Ramdhanie’s funeral was aired on television I did not see Dale Enoch, Sat Maharaj or Umballa Joseph at his side among the mourners before his cremation under Hindu rites.

RODNEY EMMANUEL
Curepe