THE Indian Action Committee (IAC) has formally lodged a complaint with the Ethnic Relations Committee (ERC) and has alerted the Speaker of the National Assembly about what it describes as “racially insensitive, offensive and derogatory” comments uttered by opposition member Amanza Walton-Desir.

The A Partnership For National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Member of Parliament (MP), while appearing on a show titled, “Politics 101” hosted by Working People’s Alliance’s (WPA) member, Dr. David Hinds, described the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) support base as “mentally lazy,” a comment which has since received much backlash and criticism.

“Unfortunately, that part of the political divide on the PPP/C have a base who prefer if they say this is what is going to happen, these people men gon come rape your daughter and kill your children, they believe that. Because the burden of sorting things out for themselves is too great,” Walton-Desir said.

“They don’t have the freedom of self-determination because freedom requires responsibility… the minute you take the road of self-determination and you assume that responsibility unto yourself it requires work, so we have a bunch of mentally lazy people and the PPP understands this very, very well and they capitalise on it,” she added.

The IAC, in a press release issued on Saturday last, noted that the organisation is of the firm view that given the context of Guyana’s politics, there is no ambiguity that the comments were directed at the Indo-Guyanese population.

“The IAC therefore forthrightly condemns in the strongest possible way and rejects such comments which it believes are repugnant, describe that group of Guyanese as being mentally enslaved, intellectually incapable and inferior to supporters of the party she represents,” the press release noted.

“Her tirade, which was demonstrative of her blatant disrespect to the Guyanese she wantonly and deliberately targeted, is totally counterproductive to efforts to foster national unity,” it further stated.

The organisation also noted that Hinds “sustained shaking of his head in the affirmative can only be interpreted as him being in agreement” and that the absence of any form of condemnation from Hinds and the leadership of the APNU+AFC can only signify that they are in support of the comments.

“The IAC believes that such comments have no place in our society and is unbecoming of someone who holds the esteemed position of a Member of Parliament. The IAC trusts that the necessary investigation is swift and thorough,” the press release said.

Aside from the IAC, Walton-Desir’s comments have attracted much criticism, with many calling for her resignation.Despite these condemnations, neither the leadership of the APNU+AFC nor Walton-Desir has made efforts to withdraw the said comments.

Instead, in a video uploaded to Facebook on Saturday evening, Walton-Desir claimed that the condemnation of her comments is the PPP/C trying to attack her, contending that at no time did she categorise Indo-Guyanese as “mentally lazy.”