How long Bas, how long?

There appears to be a chorus of unsolicited advice, rising to a crescendo, that Basdeo Panday should keep his word and relinquish the leadership of the UNC so that its traditional supporters can have a more credible political organisation to rally around and a leadership that can stand up to public scrutiny, without skeletons in the political cupboard. Mr Panday’s own case is generally perceived to be that of blind loyalty being led by blind ambition.

Where a political party is personality-based, it is not enough that the leader says that he wishes to go but he should ensure that he does not stand in the way of succession. Dr Eric Williams once pulled a fast one on the party and the country when he said that he had made an “irrevocable” decision to “leave politics” and go back to his books and his studies. It was even rumoured that the Doc had bought a house. He gave the party an ultimatum to “find a leader.” Those who took the Doc’s ruse seriously felt that the country would fall apart without his “stabilising touch.” There was a hue and cry: “Don’t go, Doctor, don’t go.” Political innocents and babes in the woos were virtually on their knees beseeching the goodly doctor to “walk that extra mile.” The Doc must have had a good laugh, knowing full well that most people had fallen for his charade, and he was simply, “playing dead to catch corbeaux alive.” The only discordant voice, as I recall, was that of Tapiaman Lloyd Best who shouted, “Man, if you going, go!”

Amusingly, when Panday first hinted that he was keeping his promise to give up the party leadership “in six months time,” and he suspected that nobody believed him, he blamed it on the Dr Williams precedent. Again it was Lloyd Best who qualified Panday’s time frame by suggesting that what Panday meant was six months (US), which, I suppose, could make it six years (TT). How long, O Lord, how long? Basdeo Panday has publicly admitted that Dr Williams was the politician that he most admired. Actually, as some who were close to Dr Williams in the earlier days could confirm, the young Basdeo was akin to the Doc’s political Pinocchio — and how he played that role to the hilt. Well, I don’t have to tell you who’s Mr Panday’s “most hated” politician. Until recently, I could have sworn that it was former President Arthur NR Robinson. But Mr Robinson must now be quite relieved to hear that he has now been replaced by one Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj.

It’s generally known that Panday is an actor of sorts and that helps to dramatise his denunciation of his “enemies on his current hit parade” whenever he chooses to breathe fire. It seems to me that Panday, as far as politics is concerned, believes that, “All the world’s his stage” and there are not exits but only entrances. Mr Robinson has, to his credit, studiously ignored Mr Panday’s personal abuse. And now that he’s no longer in the political fray Panday might have other targets. I never suspected that Panday saw himself as a pseudo-psychologist as well as a pseudo-sociologist until I heard that he had “diagnosed” Mr Robinson as being “clinically insane” and he blamed Robinson for the spate of indiscipline in our schools. Hear Bas: “When Robinson refused to appoint me Prime Minsiter, he did not act in accordance with the constitution. He therefore broke the law. So when school children see the President breaking the law they feel entitled to do so themselves.” In short, according to the Panday logic, had the President selected him instead of Patrick Manning we would not be having all that indiscipline in our schools. I daresay the indiscipline would be confined to Parliament.

Panday is no stranger to Robinson. In fact ANR summed up his perception of Panday’s enigmatic and volatile personality quite succintly and graphically, “Hugs in the day and stabs in the night.” Panday likes to think of himself as “a lion” and he is generally humoured in the media as “the silver fox.” I’m no expert in psychology, sociology or anything else for that matter, but Panday strikes me more like the chameleon, who naturally changes its colour to blend with the environment. He also strikes me as a case of multiple personalities, which personalities may not even be fully aware of each other. Before anyone gets hot under the collar, I’m not suggesting anything like a dysfunctional personality, although I hasten to add personality disorders are not as rare in our politicans and political leaders as we would like to think. I suppose that, to some extent, it goes with the territory. Panday probably sees no contradiction in bemoaning the state of crime, especially kidnapping, and being resolute in opposing any stringent legislation to deal with the problem. He sees no contradiction in shouting “ah wanna go!” and “Nah leaving!”

To be fair to the man, he has two reasons for not passing on the mantle of leadership. Reason number one is that he can’t make up his mind which one of his political poodles can fit in his boots and reason number two escapes me and I suspect escapes Panday as well. In one of his tirades he rambles and rants, “I can’t leave politics because politics will not leave me. I eat, drink, sleep politics. Politics is in me from head to toe. I want to give up the leadership so I can enter into politics.” He contends that his departure could create a vacuum which could allow “Ramesh and dem fellas to slip in.” Now, there’s probably a greater groundswell of opinion than Panday is willing to admit that sees, “Bas occupying a space that could be better filled, if it were empty.” A friend of mine wrote from Canada that she heard that Panday was forming a parallel government and he had gone off the deep end. Actually, the Bas lives in the deep end and occupies his own parallel universe.