Propagating community of hate

THE EDITOR: It is difficult to understand why Sat Maharaj should take such umbrage to the line: “Give your heart to Jesus” in a national Christmas Song competition. Christmas commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ. Everyone, including  Hindus, knows this. He expresses the fear that this might be a subtle attempt to convert Hindus into Christians.  How ridiculous and myopic. Or is this not his eternal and aggressive thrust to establish ethic dominance in this land of ours. Ours is a multi-religious, multi-ethic and consequently a multi-cultural country with peoples, until now, living in peace and harmony. Our first Prime Minister and “Father of the Nation,” Dr Eric Williams, after his Meet The People Tour in 1958 saw this and introduced The Best Village Competition with the expressed aim to acquaint the peoples of Trinidad and Tobago of the various cultures that make up our nation.

I have myself, as a Community Development Officer, got a group of senior East Indian women of St Helena Village to stage a Rice Planting Dance. The object was to educate the nation and to cultivate an appreciation of the various cultural patterns that exist in the country. As a primary school teacher, in an Anglican school, I read and explained the philosophy of Mother Lakshmi to my pupils when coming to the Divali Festival as well as the expressed meanings of the lighting. Was I, then, attempting to convert my pupils to Hinduism? Sat, why be so narrow-minded and aggressive, propagating a community of hate, negative attitudes towards other members of our national community? This is totally against the principles and philosophy as propounded in the Bhagwat Geeta.

VERNAN B GUISCHARD
Director
L’Ouverture Development Organisation