What equal place?

As the nation once again prepares to observe and some celebrate the Independence of Trinidad and Tobago there are many segments of the nation that find hollow the verse of the National Anthem, “Here every creed and race find an equal place.” In the past twelve months the Indo-Trinidadian community has indeed not found an equal place. There is a strong perception about an agenda of social engineering that virtually excludes the Indian community.

This state of exclusion falls on the back-drop when the Central Statistical Office only recently tabulated from the 2000 National Census that Indo-Trinidadians are the majority ethnic group in the nation. Indians now comprise some 40 percent - 41 percent of the total population as compared to the Afro-Trinidadian population with a 37 percent of the population. Yet despite being a numerical majority Indians are treated as anything but.

There is the continued ignoring of the call to alter the National Awards so that it is more representative of the plurality of Trinidad and Tobago. Yet this call continues to be ignored by the relevant authorities. The closure of Caroni (1975) Ltd and its impact upon the Indian communities in Central Trinidad has been devastating to say the least. The official State policy on Caroni was that the company was a financial drain on the national purse some $400 million per year. Yet the very same State without batting an eye ploughs millions into the failing BWIA to save an industry and workers. The very same State also engineered a series of make work schemes such as CEPEP that similarly devour $400 million per annum. Of course in these newly constructed expenditure the Indo-Trinidadian is woefully under-represented.

The social engineering of the State has been seen in the area of education, in particular higher education. The creation of the University of Trinidad and Tobago has been viewed as having a similar agenda to that of the University of Guyana – to provide degrees to a segment of society to replace another segment of that society. There have also been the attempts to alter the admissions requirements of the Medical School at Mt Hope. This has been viewed as an attempt to crack the dominance of Indo-Trinidadians in this particular field. This comes with the backdrop of the State recruiting essentially ‘scab labour’ from the United Nations and Cuba to deal with an industrial action with mainly Indian doctors. These foreign doctors have replaced local medical professionals which are unemployed. In August 2004 the State again revealed that it has awarded scholarships to St George’s Medical School, Grenada to twenty-three nationals. Yet no one has seen the advertisements for the scholarships nor was the criteria known to the public. This again has been viewed as part of the social engineering plan.

As a form of recourse, Indo-Trinidadians over the past year have turned to the nation’s courts for protection. The Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha Inc secured a landmark victory in the courts when Justice Carlton Best ruled that the State has discriminated against the SDMS in the allocation of a radio license. The State subsequently distributed a few radio frequencies but yet again the SDMS was left out. This has been seen as a deliberate move to deny the legitimate Hindu voice a form of mass expression. Former Prisons Officer Mr Khimrajh Bissessar also won a landmark case against the State where for the first time in the Caribbean a State was found to have discriminated against an individual on the basis of race.

The independence of the judiciary however appears to be a fast disappearing source that the Indo-Trinidadian community can rely upon. The State, faced with a barrage of requests using the Freedom of Information Act, moved in several instances to increase the list of exempt authorities. In a matter with the Maha Sabha and the Central Bank the State was prepared to introduce retroactive legislation so as to prevent the Maha Sabha from obtaining the information requested. In August 2004 the State substantially reduced the Freedom of Information Unit to a mere few officers and thus reducing the Unit’s effectiveness.

The issue of housing has also been seen as a key component in this plan as it no doubt relates to the next elections. Houses are being planted in marginal and near marginal constituencies. If played out to its logical end this will automatically lead one to the conclusion that the Indo-Trinidadian will never again see the corridors of power. The crime of kidnapping in the Indian community in the last year has become especially worrying. Without a doubt the majority of kidnapped victims are of Indian extraction yet the response by the State and the armed forces have been less than what it should be. The criminal element appears to move with ease while the police struggle. Ten-year-old Vijay Persad after over sixty days remains in the hands of his kidnappers.

Indian culture funded by the State remains as it has been for decades less than desired. Indian culture remains to  a large extent supported by the Indian community financially and only receiving paltry support from the national treasury. The Ministry of Culture is really the Ministry of Carnival Arts and devoid of Indian sympathies. Indian culture remains treated as a exotic sub-culture. This despite the recent CSO figures that Indians comprise the majority of citizens in the nation. The words of Lord McCauley in his speech of February 2, 1835, British Parliament haunts the discerning Indian when he stated, “I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation.”