Dear Editor,
I am in writing in response to Mr Hamilton Green’s defence of Forbes Burnham’s policy of banning the consumption of wheat (and other essential foreign imports) so as to promote the use of local products (‘Had the project to produce rice flour not been suffocated, we would have been proudly eating bread, pastries from local grain,’ SN, August 23). Mr Green’s conclusion was based on erroneous assumptions and the policy of denying the nation access to wheat flour was ill advised and a violation of the human rights of Indians. Neither Mr Green nor anyone in the PNC government nor those who supported the policy of banning essential products seemed to have understood the importance of wheat in the life of an Indian. The role of wheat is prescribed in the holy scriptures.
As a nationalist economist and a left-winger during my early college days, I agreed with the autarkic principle of self-development and self sufficiency. But I always insisted that local substitutes be close equivalents of banned imports and the policy of supporting a localized economy has to be pursued with sensitivity so as not to deny any ethnic group access to its cultural or religious diet and undertakings. Under Burnham’s policy of local substitutes, neither condition was met.
Mr Green and the PNC government made a gross mistake in banning several essential items that were necessary in the life of an Indian which revolves around rituals (poojas and jhandis) from birth (conception in the womb) to death. The Hindu scriptures prescribed what specific grains must be offered and when. Last month, I visited my ancestral villages on the outskirts of the holiest City of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, and at a Ramayana Katha the Swami explained the importance of some of the products used in Hindu prayers. The scriptures specifically prescribe the use of wheat, rice, various kinds of dhal, spices, dried fruits (raisins, cherries, prunes, etc), nuts, ghee, pulses, dhoop, honey, essential oils, incense, sesame seeds, and other products in these elaborate rituals. The products cannot be substituted and without them the pooja is incomplete and the worshipper gets no blessings. Lord Rama would not accept rice as a replacement for wheat. Lord Jhumraj, the God of death, wants both rice and wheat as offerings for the soul of the deceased to rest in peace. So, when a government denies people access to any of these products, wheat in particular, it is denying them religious and cultural freedom and their diets. So wheat is not only important in the diet of Indians, it is the largest part of their religious ceremonies. The scripture says prasad in poojas must be made from wheat. Indian Muslims use flour in the preparation of sirni and mithai which are blessed as offerings in Koran Shariefs. The Moulvi in my village used wheat flour and rice to jharay people. Mohanbhog, made from flour, is blessed by the priests as offerings to Jesus at Christian Indian services.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
