Nirvan Singh, his father, Carl and the usual suspects

Apr 07, 2022 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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Kaieteur News – Before we enter a discussion on the two Singhs and what the younger Singh is purported to have done, an important thing needs to be aired. A letter with a number of signatures castigating the younger Singh was published this week and ended with the following words in the following font: “END RACIAL & ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION & HATE SPEECH IN WORDS AND ACTION NOW!”
We need to remind those signatories of three omissions on their part which I find unforgiving and for which I would advise the young population of this nation, to think about who says what and who did what before you accept what they tell you.
The three evasions are: (1) – 90 percent of those signatories had no presence on the horizon of Guyana when five months of election rigging almost shattered the very existence of Guyana and those five months were as recent as 18 months ago. (2) – Not one of those signatories condemned two of the largest names in politics in the PNC when their inflammatory words led to marauding violence against Indians in Region Five in post-election violence in September 2020. (3) – In protecting the Mace of Parliament, a parliamentary employee was told by a sitting APNU parliamentarian that he was a house slave. Guyana did not see a letter with 20 signatories condemning this racial vocabulary.
The young lawyer currently embroiled in a controversy over alleged racist remarks I met once through his father, Carl Singh, the former Chancellor. I was behind an older gentleman at the parcel department of the central post office when the attendant requested proof of address for a parcel he was sending into the interior. He was turned away and I was livid.
Proof of address is unnecessary once the parcel’s content is clean and contains nothing illegal. It means there will be no need for the police to contact the sender. The post office searches the packets before acceptance. I went to Nirvan Singh and asked if he would do a case against the post office for me without payment.
He agreed. The case did not materialise because he said I have to get someone who has locus standi, meaning a citizen who was refused service has to be the one to file the writ. We talked about my 40 years friendship with his dad, Carl. I never saw him since.
His dad and I met in 1974 as UG freshmen and since then we have maintained a very close friendship. I deliberately hid that fact in my writings once he was Chief Justice and Chancellor because I was afraid it could have brought on unwholesome and unnecessary criticism in the pathologically poisoned political ambience Guyana has.
As students together, Carl was very generous to me. I could not have afforded a two-way bus ticket every day for four years. On countless occasions, Carl bought countless tickets for me. I remember one day asking him to facilitate the publication of a book manuscript I have done on race and party politics and he agreed. The book was never published because UG refused to offer the necessary funding.
I value the friendship of Carl and will say unapologetically with pellucid emphasis, Carl is not even remotely racially conscious. It has been over 45 years of friendship so I know the man and his thoughts. Carl would never utter a racially sensitive word. His life-long friend, African-rights scholar, Dr. Kimani Nehusi will willingly testify to that fact.
All the above does not relate to his son, Nirvan. I cannot speak about the temperament of his son since I don’t know him. If Nirvan did what he is being accused of by a female Black security rank, then as a lawyer he must know, an apology should be extended.
If he feels there are contradictory facts that the Guyanese people should be given, then I would urge him to put his version to the public. What happened between him and the lady? Does he feel there are dimensions to the incident that makes his version palatable? He should give his side ASAP.
The longer he takes to do so he encourages the usual suspects, the lunatic fringe and the Creole middle class to do two things. Use the incident to consolidate their racially driven agenda. Secondly, to exploit every racial incident to enrich their anti-government agenda.
Nirvan must understand something about Guyana’s sociology and must comprehend this motif immediately. There are shameless racists in this country whose convenient morality is sickening. He should apologise if he is wrong. He should not give such a breed a large breeding ground to propound their racially driven thoughts.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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