Dear Editor,
The two bombing citizens who attacked Michael Anthony and his son in Anna Catherina on Diwali night must have been reading different Hindu scriptures from the people who were preaching love, unity and light over darkness. The noise-makers seem to be at war – the bombs are not enough – there must be attacks against anyone who stop them. These two citizens seem trained in the same nation building sentiments as those who killed Pandit Rishi Bharat in Corentyne in August 2021.
None of the pandits or other Hindu thought leaders and politicians have quoted any part of the Hindu scriptures which make reference to Diwali as a time for bombs, for destructive noise, for attacking people who want peace and quiet to enjoy making the light and watching the lights. And while in India it seems to be worse – reports in New Delhi that the air was not fit for breathing after Diwali… what does it mean for Hindus and all others when the festivals become destructive rather than remain a celebration? Is the message of light over darkness just fake news in the reality that celebration and destruction most co-exist as part of the Guyanese condition?
When did these two citizens and others decide that Diwali in Guyana must have noise and that steel wool spinning was not enough? Would the police and justice system perhaps ask them as part of their sentencing so that there could be some understanding what the link is between diyas and terrified animals and people for some of the citizens of Guyana who turn Diwali into a frustrating event for others?
Are the authorities who preach love and unity and so on at this time and wear Indian clothing and light up ‘national diyas’ and so on… are they allowing the bombers and so on because the division of the citizens into noise-makers and those who want quiet is needed just as the other divisions in the oil democracy, needed now rather than the evolution of the light over darkness message into a radical revolution of love and unity in diversity and those other things which will challenge the power of those who thrive in a divided Guyana?
Sincerely,
Vidyaratha Kissoon
