The Indian supremacists will not forgive Nagamootoo

Sep 25, 2015 Letters

---

Dear Editor,
I refer to the letter by Lomarsh Roopnarine dated Sunday, September 20, 2015 (Idea of National Unity is good but approach is bad”) He wrote the following; “I am for national unity/social cohesion at any place and any time.” But this is the same man who didn’t yearn for national unity when he and others with an Indianized mind rooted for the PPP in the May 2015 elections.
Here is his accusation against the Stabroek News in a letter of  May 21, 2015 shortly after the election results were declared: “No other event, however, appears to be more crucial than the SN reporting and publishing of the results from polling stations as they became available.
When I checked on the website on a number of occasions, the coalition was winning and this was important and significant because it might have had an impact on those who were undecided voters. These undecided voters might have gone with the winning flow. Never before has Guyana seen such a quick publishing of election results, which I believe, made a difference in the election results.” (end of quote)
I have dealt with this ignorance in response to this egregious statement. It is ignorance that is unforgivable. How can a newspaper influence the way people will vote by printing results according to districts whose results were in. To publish results it meant the polls were closed and the counting began.
What Roopnarine deliberately omitted in his May 21 letter is the graphic fact that he could have influenced Berbecians to vote for the PPP.
Let me quote him again in a letter of May 2; “ I called people in villages and spoke to a few political scholars. These are findings. First is that there might be a repeat of the results of the last election. Second is that the PPP will win but with a slim lead. Now, I am not campaigning for or against any political party.
The reasons why the PPP will win are as follows. A majority of voters in Berbice will vote for the PPP because they have more to gain than to lose. Simple as that. They still believe in the PPP. It would be difficult for the APNU/AFC coalition to gain the eleven percent of the votes in Berbice to win the election.
It appears that the coalition would have about seven percent of votes. The coalition has not made a dent in the voting pattern among Indians in Berbice. Yes, some sections of the Indian population are fed-up with the PPP but they view the APNU/AFC coalition as the worst possible alternative.” (end of quote)
Moses Nagamootoo will be the whipping boy for the Indianized minds who are reeling from the loss of Indian control of the state. The Indian supremacists will not forgive Nagamootoo for causing the fall of Indian hegemony. It was Ralph Seeram who launched a weekly tirade against Nagamootoo in the weeks before the election.
Seeram knew that Nagamootoo’s presence was the threat to the PPP’s victory because it was Nagamootoo who precipitated the initial fall in 2011. As the APNU-AFC coalition settles in and as they seek to win over more Indian constituencies we will see more demonizing of Nagamootoo from that vocal Indian supremacist wing in the Diaspora that went ballistic in the letter pages during the 2015 election campaign.
The following observation in the September 20 letter from Roopnarine is a large indication of what is to come. Roopnarine wrote; “It defies logic to have PM Moses Nagamootoo at the helm for the call for national unity. His adverse position toward the PPP opposition is well known. He might be capable but not cooperative. He will turn out to be more of a stickler than a settler.”
Do you think Roopnarine simply forgot to mention that the power-sharing talks will involve Bharrat Jagdeo? He knows that but Nagamootoo is Roopnarine’s problem not Jagdeo. Roopnarine, Seeram and others cannot forgive Nagamootoo because it is Nagamootoo that will cause the PPP never to win power again.
One can deduce from the unacceptability of Nagamootoo by Roopnarine that Roopnarine finds Jagdeo an eligible participant in power sharing talks between the PPP and APN-AFC coalition. This is the same Jagdeo that could go to jail for racial incitement depending on the outcome of a court case.
This is the same Jagdeo that can be classified as mouthing off the vilest racist sentiments in Guyana’s electoral history. This is the same Jagdeo whose racist policies I have documented in a 79 page academic paper.
There isn’t one word on Jagdeo’s ineligibility in power-sharing talks by Roopnarine in his missive. I would remind Roopnarine that a large percentage of people in this country hold the view that Jagdeo must be investigated for corruption and abuse of power. I think that makes him a non-starter in any talks on power-sharing.
Frederick Kissoon

---

---