By Dr Vishnu Bisram
THE New York-based Guyana Democracy Project (GDP) issued a release on Wednesday morning vehemently protesting the exclusion of prominent Guyanese community leaders from a meeting in Queens, to engage New York State Attorney General (AG) Letitia James.

The engagement stems from a statement issued by the AG last October in Brooklyn relating to allegations of racism in Guyana.

Several members of the Indo-Guyanese community in Queens were invited to a session a few days ago with the AG in Queens.

The invitation came through the office of Richmond Hill elected District Democratic Leader, Richard David, an Indo-Guyanese American.

No representative of the Guyana government was invited for the discussion. The private meeting was slated for Wednesday at 16:30hrs at the Guyanese-owned Starlite Pavilion, 101 Ave and 130 Street in Richmond Hill, Queens. But on Wednesday several of them received a memo that they were disinvited.

The number of invitees was restricted to 25 and included some of the most active and grounded leaders in the community.

Several individuals who have their grounding (good knowledge and track record) in the community and know well about issues in Guyana, learnt late Tuesday (April 4) that the AG has disinvited them.

They are: Pt Ram Hardowar, President of Federation of Hindu Mandirs; Fazal Yusuf, President of ICD; Dr Tara Singh, President of NYGM, and Dr Dhanpaul Narine, President of Trimurti Bhavan, among others.

This disinvite also came through David. Those who were disinvited felt very dishonoured and disrespected, and were at a loss for words when asked why they were suddenly excluded from the meeting.

It appeared that the attendees were pre-selected and that the meeting had a pre-determined agenda.

The AG is not known as someone who fears engaging even her worst critics. She has had a long history of engaging Indian Guyanese and Indians in the diaspora when she was Brooklyn Councillor in the City Council. Thus, it is inexplicable why she would exclude some of the most veteran Guyanese activists in the community.

In protest, the NY GDP said: “The action is extremely disrespectful to these authentic community leaders who have always had a strong abiding interest in our Queens community affairs, as well as in Guyana.”

The agenda of the meet is not known. But there is speculation that it has to do with clarifying statements about the socio-political situation in Guyana and to advise the AG accordingly.

The release states: “The Attorney General, who is close to a top Brooklyn-based opposition aligned operative in New York, does not have a favourable view of the Guyana Government. We believe that the meeting is to clarify misconceptions. In addition, she needs to neutralise differences with Guyanese community leaders in Queens, since she recognises that her margin of victory in the November 2022 election was narrow. It should be noted that the incumbent James was running against an unknown candidate who had no name recognition.”

The GDP statement adds: “We worry what such a meeting could accomplish when the most active and prominent Guyanese community leaders in Queens have been excluded. We do not wish to besmirch those Guyanese leaders who will attend the meeting to engage the AG, but we are not confident in how they may present the socio-economic and political conditions in Guyana.”

Dr Singh queried whether the participants would present evidence to the Attorney General debunking her claim that the PPP/C government practises racism and marginalising of Afro-Guyanese.

According to the NY GDP: “It is concerned that this meeting with the AG that excludes legitimate stakeholders could end up giving legitimacy to previous unsubstantiated statements attributed to the Attorney General on the Guyana situation.”

The NY GDP is hopeful: “The outreach with the small number of Queens-based Guyanese is not a publicity stunt to make the Attorney General look good, in that she is reaching out to the Guyanese community in Queens. She knows of our (Queens-based) growing political strength where we can make a difference in statewide elections.”

The GDP asks rhetorically: “How a top Democrat, number three in statewide office, could embrace exclusion when she disinvited the main Guyanese community leaders in Queens”.

As a result of publicly launched pressure, it is learned that the planned meeting has been converted into a dinner, so that the organisers now reserve the right to invite whomsoever they want.

However, the GDP said: “The goal remains the same with the AG not being able to get a true description of the factual situation in Guyana.”