PPP and PNC, Jagan and Burnham’s history are intertwined

Mar 19, 2011 Letters

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Dear Editor,
I was motivated to write this letter after I heard Mr. Christopher Ram interviewing Freddie Kissoon and Mark Benschop on his TV show Plain Talk, and which Benschop simultaneously broadcast on his internet radio programme on 03-13-11.
Benschop, in answering a question, started to situate the events of the 1970’s in the context of the Cold War. He was interrupted by Mr. Ram who quipped if he was excusing rigged elections.
Benschop said, “No.” However, he did not get to elaborate. Please allow me to express one of my views on the matter.
It was because of the Cold War, and Jagan’s rabid communist, anti USA, pro USSR beliefs, that he was removed from office by the USA. It was because Burnham was not communist, not anti USA, and not pro USSR that he was put in power by the USA.
It was understood that so long as Jagan held his communist tunnel vision he would not be allowed back in power in the Cold War environment. Jagan was excited by the Cuban Revolution, and took it as proof of the inevitable collapse of the USA and world capitalism, and, the triumph of world communism. (Prof Clem Seecharran). This was his mindset in 1968.
The 1968 elections were rigged to give the PNC a simple majority. Jagan knew his fate was sealed.
Yet in 1969 he defiantly declared the PPP to be a disciplined Marxist Leninist Party that was aligned with the Communist Party of the USSR. In formally planting himself in the USSR camp he expected to gain power when the USA collapsed and the USSR triumphed. At the intellectual level he had given up on elections.
By 1973 he had succeeded in destroying all independent Indian organisations, and had disparaged every independent thinking Indian.
All Indian organisations were controlled by him. Violence, such as chopping up of cows, was used to keep Indians in line. He had total command of his Indian base. In his mind, struggle meant that you had to be confrontational and he had to contribute to the defeat of the USA and capitalism.
In all his reports and speeches Jagan always began with an analysis of the international situation, where in his world, the USA, imperialism, and capitalism were in decline and the USSR led communist movement was in ascendency.
At the national level he berated Burnham and the PNC for impeding the struggle for communism. It was his ardent desire to join forces with Burnham as he felt that a united front could defeat the imperialist. However, Burnham did not share Jagan’s vision.
Through political pragmaticism (Jagan called it opportunism) Burnham had managed to wrest power from Jagan in 1964. Had Jagan regained power, Guyana would have faced years of CIA fomented internal racial strife that would have destroyed the country.
Burnham complied with the USA because it kept him in power, preserved the integrity of the country, and guarded the ethno interests of his supporters. However, he was no imperialist puppet and he pursued strong nationalist policies. He bided his time and when it was opportune to do so he nationalised the bauxite industry. These were the conditions under which the 1973 elections were held.
Jagan knew that the USA would not allow him back in power, and since he had total control of the Indian majority votes, he knew the elections could not be free and fair.
His strategy was to foment unrest in the hope of forcing Burnham into a coalition. Unrest in which Africans and Indians faced off also caused Indians to rally around the PPP.
He spent weeks admonishing his supporters to surround the polling stations and block the security forces.
Until then it was only the police that escorted officials and ballot boxes to the counting centres.
Jagan’s gambit caused Burnham to deploy the GDF on elections day.
Now, throughout all their disagreements Jagan and Burnham had remained close friends. They played tennis twice weekly at Burnham’s residence. Their history is intertwined. Is it possible they discussed the elections? Did Burnham plan to take a simple majority again, but Jagan’s tactics caused him to say, “yuh think yuh bad. Ah gon show yuh who mo bad.” And Burnham decided to take two thirds of the votes?
As much as it was morally wrong for Burnham to rig elections, Jagan has to share much responsibility for his demise. He placed communism above the interests of Guyana, his Indian supporters, and indeed all Guyanese. Some might say Jagan’s own rigging of elections against the Hindu leader Balram Singh Rai and his dismissal of Rai as Home Affairs Minister in 1962 caused him bad karma that led his (Jagan’s) dismissal in 1964 and being shut out of power for 28 years through rigging.
Malcolm Harripaul

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