Dear Editor,
We have seen that a certain religious organization held a separate celebration for Arrival Day at the national stadium this year, and that its leader was reported on page 29 of Kaieteur News (27.4.08) as saying that they have been celebrating the arrival of Indians for more than three decades and they will not allow this occasion to slip into the hands of those who would exploit it for their own ends.
That statement sounded like a reference to the IAC and others. As I recall, it was the Mahatma Gandhi organization under the leadership of the late Dr Balwant Singh who tried to give some importance to May 5, and for more than three decades they called it Rama Khan Day because it was Rama and Khan who first stepped off the ship. The head of the organization appeared on NCN Channel 11 on May 2, expressing the hope they would be recreating history, but they have created division. The same thing happened in Region #3, when from 1988 onwards the whole of West Demerara gathered at Joe Vieira’s fun park and every year we saw one of the largest ever celebrations with tens of thousands attending. However, during a part of the ’90s this organization encouraged its followers to join in its celebration at the Uitvlugt Mandir compound; however, this stopped because the event at Joe Vieira’s Park always pulled in more people. Mr Editor, getting national recognition for the day was the work of Mr Ravi Dev, the IAC, the commemoration committee and several others like Mr Yesu Persaud, who pushed very hard for it.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address supplied)
