PM: Government committed to mark Indian Arrival Day as national festival

THE GOVERNMENT of Trinidad and Tobago reaffirms its commitment to the celebration of Indian Arrival Day as a National Festival. This announcement by Prime Minister Patrick Manning at the National Council for Indian Culture’s (NCIC) Indian Arrival Day Celebrations on Saturday night was greeted with loud applause by the gathering who had read the newspapers the morning before that the PM’s  message on the occasion of the National Holiday did not include the word Indian.

The PM said that he was referring to the Indian community and did not mean to exclude the word Indian and that was to be understood. He regretted whatever harm might have been done by leaving out  the word  and said that it was not necessary to repeat it but at the same time vowed Government’s intention to recognise the day as a historical event of great significance to the country’s development since the early part of the nineteenth century. He stated that the celebrations which was in the 159th year was growing in significance and stature “and is so important now that it is being eagerly looked forward to with each passing year.

“All of us as a Nation look forward to the celebrations every year and that is how it should be for we believe that great and important moments  should always be commemorated and observed where and whenever the opportunity arises,” Manning said. He denied that a University Professor (with obvious reference to Dr Selwyn Cudjoe) who allegedly made some offensive comments to a certain segment of the population, was an adviser to Government. Manning said that the Constitution allows for freedom of speech and “people could say what they want just as the President of the NCIC could say what he wishes.”

He also touched on a suggestion made by the Mayor of Chaguanas, Dr Suruj Ram-bachan that the Ministry of Culture should be reorganised to adequately recognise the contributions made by all sections of the community with respect to the allocation of funds and said that it had merit and Government would consider it but not perhaps, in the same manner that the Mayor recommended. Manning said that he recently sent a message to the Indian High Commission with respect to a request for comments is on Indian Arrival Day in India and said that for certain Trinidad and Tobago had set a pace that other nations were now following. In the message he pointed out that there were close historical and cultural ties between the two countries and efforts should be made to bring them  closer as their historical past were similar in many respects.