Dear Editor,
I recently viewed a video ‘Why Guy-ana Is Hindu’. This video is on Infinity Foundation’s YouTube Channel. (Video link https://youtu.be/kuaLXtAQKRM). I am happy that Dr. Vindhya Persaud did not attempt to positively demonstrate that Guyana is Hindu. Yes, there are Guyanese who are Hindus, but that does not make Guyana Hindu, as the misleading label of the video wishes to portray. The disbelief this title created actually forced me to seek statistical evidence on our demographics. I looked at our National Census 2012, a US State Department report on religious adherents within the Guyanese land mass only to find that the Christian population is more than double that of the Hindu population of Guyana. One stated that 63% and the other 65% of the population are Christians while both pegged Hindus at a mere 25% of the population, These figures juxtaposed alongside the name given to the video, (Why Guyana Is Hindu), in which the Minister of Human Services and Social Security was interviewed, in my mind is simply an embarrassment to the Minister.
What is even more damaging to the claim the name of the video implies is that there is information available to show that the Hindu fraction of the country’s population has been declining even so during the years when the political party, the PPP, with which both she and father are associated, have administered the country. On the other hand, I was shocked to hear her descend into political campaign sloganeering. We all know that the economic constraints of the latter parts of the 70s and early 80s, did cause serious disruptions of Guyanese lifestyles. By this, I mean to say the lifestyles of all Guyanese. However, our High Caste (in the Video she stated she is a Brahmin), Minister of Social Protection and Human Services chose to declare that there was a targeted attempt to disrupt Hinduism by curtailing foods and other accoutrements associated with that culture. It was the time when because of foreign exchange constraints, the country could not afford to import many items, some essential and others not so essential. It was when we stopped importing salted cod, and produced salted fish, a source of income for many Hindu families, from several species found locally. It was the time when attempts were made to substitute rice flour for wheaten flour. The rice flour project was thwarted by the PPP.
Today, in oil rich Guyana, the current regime has it on a pedestal hoodwinking segments of the population that they have discovered or need I say created it. In event she feels that there is a misrepresentation, I am willing to meet Dr. Persaud at any forum (except the Freddie and Gildarie show) for us to bring clarity to such issues surrounding that period of our (the country’s) existence. It is appalling that the devotee refused to acknowledge that Hinduism in Guyana got support from the same government she subliminally tried to disparage. The festival she referenced that her father (helped) developed got the prominence it enjoys because that government lifted Diwali to the status of a National Holiday. In other words, acknowledging the role and contributions of that group of Indians in this country. The government did not stop there, it also promoted to the status of National Holiday, Phagwah, for the benefit of Hindus and went on to promote similarly, two Muslim Holidays for the other major grouping of Indians that came seeking betterment in British Guiana.
In the scenario where the concept of ONE GUYANA is being pedaled alongside blatant attempts to encourage Indian domination, public office holders need to be careful, not only about their utterances, but also the wrappings/packaging of commodities with which these are associated. Hence, I am requesting that the Hindu Minister’s request that this offensive label (definitely a misnomer) of this YouTube video be changed, since its intent is to mislead.
Sincerely,
Elton Mc Rae
