Sand on the Highway

The Secretary General of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, Sri Satnarayan Maharaj at the 2004 Indian Arrival Day celebrations, reiterated that the Maha Sabha would not engage in any acts of revolutions to destabilise the duly elected government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Instead the Secretary General stated that the SDMS will use all democratic institutions to advance the cause of the Hindu and Indian population of the nation. To that end the SDMS have actively engaged all three branches of government — Legislative, Executive, and the Judiciary.
 
During the recent debate on the proposed Crime Reform Bill the SDMS reviewed the proposed legislation and submitted amendments so as to improve what was proposed. The SDMS was publicly commended by both the Government and Opposition (Hansard June 29, 2004) for this initiative. The SDMS after reviewing the appointment of Central Bank Director Dr Selywn R Cudjoe deemed that it will, in the interest of the public, challenge the appointment of that Director. Similarly the SDMS challenged in the High Court of Trinidad and Tobago the refusal of the State to award the institution a radio license as well as the refusal of the Central Bank to reveal information under the Freedom of Information Act. The Maha Sabha also simultaneously lobbies the Executive so as to improve the condition of the Hindu community. Therefore it was not surprising that the Government for the first time provided substantial grants for Phagwa and Indian Arrival Day celebrations as a result.
 
By its very Constitution the SDMS is mandated to engage in these acts within a democratic framework as the Constitution charges the organisation “to do all things possible for the spiritual, intellectual, political, moral, social, physical and economic improvement of its members generally.” The SDMS, as the legitimate Hindu voice in Trinidad and Tobago, is also mandated to comment on all things Hindu and related to Hinduism. Therefore whenever the prefix ‘Hindu’ is affixed to anything and/or Hindu iconography used, the SDMS has a locus standing to offer fair comment. It is in this context that the recent developments by a so-called Hindu branded organisation demand some reasoned commentary. The collective intellect of Hindus was insulted. Some appear to believe that ‘capital flight’ means that Trinidad and Tobago’s currency will be jumping on an airplane at Piarco International Airport. This concept of ‘capital flight’ further has inspired some to literally storm the airport in an attempt to prevent money from leaving the country.
 
These very same benighted individuals in a comedy of errors have also convinced themselves that the United Nations is an international body that can make an intervention into the local affairs of Trinidad and Tobago. The track record of the UN intervention points clearly to where and when the UN intervenes. When there are civil strife, famine, natural disasters, or where the United States instructs, these are the only instances where the UN steps on the soil of another nation. These thespians have also developed a ‘crime plan’ which when studied by the police and other relevant crime experts have been described publicly as ‘laughable’. Indeed urban legend in the nation now has started myths as to details on this plan which is said to include putting a police man within every public phone booth, invading the privacy of cellular phones, monitoring Sentra motorcars (the getaway of choice by kidnappers), etc.
 
What perhaps evoked the most reaction is the suggestion that a private financial organisation will be conducting their personal roadblocks in crime hot spots. These persons appear to be clearly exploiting the crime wave that has engulfed the nation to mobilise the masses around a populist cause perhaps to take away attention from a more serious financial concern. Indeed one interesting solution presented on this platform is the concept of transforming citizens of the nation into virtual indentured servants. The audience is being told that to solve crime only one particular institution and its subsidiaries should be supported so as to ensure economic prosperity. It is not a surprise that the institution championed, is the very same institution hosting the crime platform.
 
The message of race hate appears to be also being projected on these platforms as the French Creole, and Syrian communities are being targetted. Without a shred of proof these minority communities are being vilified. The major employers the conglomerates such as CLICO, the banks and Ansa Mcal have been the particular targets. It appears that profit is obscene unless it can come from one financial institution. The chiefly Indian audiences to this message, which can be described as fostering an artificial hysteria, are being organised along what appears to be political lines. “Crime Meetings” hosted by these thespians are being hosted in almost exclusively the traditional Indian dominated constituencies of the Opposition. Indeed now songs are being sung that the leader of this crusade on crime should be the next Prime Minister or at best the next Indian leader.
 
The Indian community recalls all too well, when the populist issue of corruption was used by former Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj to launch a political party to rival the Indian political leader Basdeo Panday. The result of that deadly duel was the removal of the Indian voice from government. Today with similar challenges again to Panday’s leadership has some people speculating that perhaps it is the PNM administration financing and supporting this effort from behind the scenes in a bid to split the Indian community before the next general elections. The nation’s crime wave and the lack of an appropriate response from the Indian political leadership in particular has given rise to an artificial champion who is willing to seize this populist issue as a stepping stone to the national stage. The masses so herded by fear in desperation are as a result willing to support anyone in their perceived defence. The failure of the government to adequately respond to crime has foisted this new response on the Indian community. On the road to progress for the Indian community this is nothing but sand on the highway.