Outrageous–Cheddi must be turning in his grave, says Ramkarran
Ralph Ramkarran
Ralph Ramkarran

WHAT were considered “racist remarks” made by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo recently in New York have revealed the new agenda of the Peoples’ Progressive Party (PPP) — which is: to represent their ethnic interests exclusively.

This contention has been advanced by former Speaker of the National Assembly and former longstanding PPP Executive member Ralph Ramkarran, who expressed same in his weekly blog, “The Conversation Tree”, published on Saturday.

Speaking at a social event in Queens, New York, Jagdeo said Guyana’s political, economic and social conditions were worse than in the 1970s and 1980s under the then People’s National Congress (PNC) Government of then President Forbes Burnham.

“There is an assault on our democracy. There is an assault on people of Indian origin. There is an assault on supporters of the PPP.  What we thought would never return to Guyana in just one short year has returned with full force, and even worse in some regards than the Burnham era,” he told the predominantly East Indian gathering.

According to Ramkarran, this reveals the “new PPP agenda.”
“This is a wholly new dimension to the PPP’s agenda; namely, its formal and official transformation by Mr. Jagdeo into an ethnic party representing exclusively ethnic interests,” he said.

He added that the founder of the PPP, former President Dr Cheddi Jagan, must be turning in his grave.

The political commentator explained that Jagdeo’s remarks that: “we gonna take back Guyana” must mean that “we” own Guyana, that it was taken away from “us”, and that “we” must now take it back.

But although the Opposition Leader did not say from whom the country will be retaken, Ramkarran questioned whether it is from the PNC or from Africans.

“He clearly meant, even if he did not say it, that ‘we’ will then rule Guyana in ‘our’ interests because it belongs to ‘us’. The big question is who ‘we’ are,” the political commentator said.

Ramkarran went on to point out that, in “full hyperbolic flow,” Jagdeo answers the very question in stating “There is an assault on people of Indian origin. There is an assault on supporters of the PPP”. Ramkarran said this answers the question as to who the “we” are in Jagdeo’s statements.

LOYALISTS
Having been faced with a torrent of criticism, the former Speaker said, Jagdeo trotted out some loyalists: Clement Rohee, Gail Teixeira and Anil Nandlall, as he usually does when under pressure to prove discrimination.

But according to the former longstanding PPP executive, charges of discrimination which Jagdeo and the PPP have made before are not new. What Ramkarran believes is new, however, are the emotive appeals to “defend” Indians “in these dark times”, and the Opposition Leader’s promise to Indians to “take back Guyana” for them.

He went on to explain that accusations of racial discrimination in Guyana’s administration by Guyanese politicians are nothing new. He referred to the period between 1957 and 1964 when PPP Governments endured charges of “apaan jaat”, adapted to mean “support your own kind”; the subsequent period
between 1964 and 1992, when PNC Governments were consistently accused of racial and political discrimination; and the period between 1992 and 2015, when PPP Governments were targeted by the Opposition for ethnic discrimination.

As such, Ramkarran contended, no one should therefore be surprised at accusations by the Opposition Leader and the PPP that racial discrimination is taking place in Guyana.

“The realities of Guyana have caused our main political parties to take cognisance of the fact that organised political expression and activity are driven by ethnic insecurities. Both Indians and Africans feel more secure in supporting parties that they believe represent and protect their ethnic interests.

“In order to sustain that support, each of our main parties must appear to represent, or purport to represent, the interests of the ethnic group which supports it. This is one of the factors that explain the accusations of discrimination by the party out of office against the party in office; and their appeals, subtle or open, to ethnic constituencies,” the former PPP Executive said.

STATE BOARD APPOINTMENTS
He also pointed out that the PPP rejects allegations that it had practised discrimination while in Government; yet, dozens of boards appointed by that party were dominated by Indians, and the predominance of Indians appointed to some Government posts was noticeable.

“All ambassadors were Indian on the ground that no Africans were qualified, according to Dr Luncheon,” Ramkarran added.

According to him, disputes about race and ethnicity in Guyana took a turn for the worse after 1992 – a year when the PPP assumed Executive office. He believes that the language became sharper and more divisive.

In addition, street violence, particularly in Georgetown after the elections of 1992, 1997 and 2001, intensified ethnic fears across the country. During the disturbances after the 1997 elections, former President Desmond Hoyte horrified many by calling upon the security forces to extend ethnic solidarity with their ‘kith and kin’ in the PNC.

“These developments heightened ethnic cleavages,” Ramkarran said, adding that the two main political parties had always maintained a posture of being multi-ethnic and of representing both major races in Guyana.

However, he believes that from 2006, particularly in the National Assembly, the PNCR began to explicitly say that it was speaking on behalf of its supporters’ interests; and now that the PPP is in opposition, that party has adopted the same posture, as evidenced by Jagdeo’s speech.

 

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