Manning’s contempt for Divali?

While the UK House of Commons and the United States Whitehouse have begun to celebrate Divali in grand style it is interesting that in Trinidad with a larger Divali celebration, that the festival remains far removed from the Red House and without any real show of support from the Prime Minister. The public position taken by Prime Minister Patrick Manning in the recent Divali celebrations can be viewed as contemptuous for the Hindu community of Trinidad and Tobago. The unspoken communication by the Prime Minister contradicts the annual Divali message by the Office of the Prime Minister. Manning’s 2004 greeting to the Hindu community on the occasion of Divali, stated “how often has it been said that paradoxically, while religion is intended to bring people together, it can and has been used for the opposite effect?” Indeed it is the very paradoxical religious position with regards to religion that is cause for concern.

Prime Minister Manning accepted to attend the Divali Nagar on Saturday November 6 yet a day before he indicated his inability to attend. Manning instead appointed Senator Christine Sahadeo as his representative. The NCIC received a message on the answering machine in their Chaguanas office that Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Christine Sahadeo, would take Manning’s place. “We were told that something had come up,” president of the NCIC, Deokinanan Sharma, stated.  Senator Christine Sahadeo apologised on Manning’s behalf for his “unavoidable absence” and tried to make the most of the no doubt embarrassing situation. Ironically Manning managed to attend another function in San Fernando. At a PNM induction ceremony (on November 7) political leader, Prime Minister Patrick Manning, presented his members with a history of the party since 1956. Manning stated, “Notice we are not called the People’s National Party, but the People’s National Movement. People mean it is a party put together for the people.

National suggests that it encompasses people of all backgrounds, all ethnicity and all races.” People however does not appear to include those who celebrate Divali. This priority of another function over a national Hindu function indicates how the Prime Minister views the holy observance of Divali. This is the second consecutive year that Manning has declined to attend the Divali Nagar celebrations. It is also noticeable that he is conspicuously absent from all major Divali celebrations in his constituency and the nation at large. In previous years since assuming political office Manning hosted Divali dinners. This year it appears that this election strategy has now outlived its usefulness. It is also instructive that at the recent Caricom meeting in Trinidad it was not seen as appropriate by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to highlight aspects of the festive and auspicious nature of the Divali celebrations. Instead Caribbean leaders were treated to tastes of Carnival.

All the nations of Caricom, with the notable exception of Guyana, have some Carnival celebration and no Divali celebration. The Caricom leaders would have been exposed to the cultural diversity that supposed to be Trinidad and Tobago. With this social exclusion, is there any surprise that Indo-Trinidadians are cautious about the proposed political union with Grenada and St Vincent? At the Independence Anniversary address of Vincentian Students Association at UWI, St Augustine Campus (October 31, 2004) Dr Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, claimed that persons of Indian descent would be the “principal beneficiaries” in a political union of Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada, and that they have nothing to fear, appears to ring hollow. Equality implies not only being treated equally in the allocation of State resources but also equality of treatment by the State and State officials. The failure of the Prime Minister to attend Divali and Eid celebrations indicates the lack of appreciation by the Prime Minister for the Hindu and Muslim communities. The Indo-Trinidadian community has to be wary that other State officials and functionaries will adopt this position taken by the Prime Minister as an unofficial State policy of social exclusion. Indeed if one were to examine the allocation of State agencies and how they allocate funding and financial assistance to Hindu organisations compared to non-Hindu groups the conclusion will have to be that the message of social exclusion is already being practised.

Of course there will be some who will point out that prior to Divali (Thursday, November 4 2004) representatives of at least 75 organisations received cheques from the Ministry of Community Development to aid their preparations for the Divali celebrations. This some would show that State officials could not be biased against Hindus. At the hand-over ceremony held at Queen’s Hall, St Ann’s, Joan Yuille-Williams, Minister of Community Development, urged the recipients to “use the Divali spirit to make the difference to all those persons who feel deprived or marginalised.” Since Divali celebrations target specifically the Hindu community, is it that the Minister knows that Hindus are being marginalised? If so then who have marginalised the Hindus?

However Leader of the Opposition Basdeo Panday presented the proper response when he reminded the Divali Nagar crowd that the few dollars the PNM dishes out to the Indo-Trinidadian community must not be a substitute for equality, UNC leader said during his address at the closing ceremony of 2004 Divali Nagar in Chaguanas on Wednesday night. “If you allow that to happen, it will be a heavy price for your right to be treated as equals, a one-sided sale for which your children and their children after them shall curse you until eternity. “In any case, it is not their money that they are giving you; it’s yours, the taxpayers’ money, and you are entitled to it. “Do not let a few dollars more disunite you or cause you to give up the struggle against discrimination and oppression.”