For almost a decade, residents of Alexander Village have had their Deepavali celebrations disrupted by revellers who have been waging firecracker attacks on their Mandir.
Jas Shivraj, Chandra Sukhu and Danny Ramdeen all say that over the past nine years their community has been targeted by fellow citizens who have no respect for Hinduism and seem intent on “stifling our Indian culture.” Tuesday night was the worst attack ever launched on the village, residents said. According to them there were approximately 5,000 people in the village, many of them strangers from other communities. “They came from neighbouring places like Ruimveldt and Albouys-town… many of them came from places as far off as Buxton and they lit and threw the squibs and bombs as if it were one big game,” a resident said. On Wednesday, police said ranks on duty observed a number of squibs being set off at various areas within Alexander Village. They added that there was a crowd of approximately 3,000 persons on the roadways in the village, who were there to witness the event, including the lighting up of the Mandir and other buildings. Nineteen people were arrested.
Sukhu, who has lived in the area for many years, told Stabroek News that years ago Alexander Village was one of the most beautifully decorated areas in Guyana during the festival of lights. Other villagers explained that at first many people flocked the area to admire the hundreds of diyas lit and the many creative designs done in the village on Deepavali night. But that tradition, they say, has long since deteriorated and changed into a “jump up, shout-out, big party-lime” it is today. “They no longer come to appreciate our work, they no longer come to peacefully join in our celebrations,” one man said. “They come to terrorize us in our own village… damage our property, traumatize our children and old folks… and they add insult to injury by using our festival as an excuse to do it.”
At approximately 6.30 p.m. on Tuesday the villagers began lighting their diyas and were preparing to pray, while the numbers began building in the village.
Members of the Mandir said that they arrived there but never even started their evening service because the loud bangs of the squibs and bombs created too much noise and everyone was uneasy because of the large number of strange people that had gathered outside their Mandir.
Alexander Village has four streets which run from east to west and a cross street which runs from north to south intersecting them.
The Mandir is located at the corner of Third and Cross Streets. Residents explained that the crowd would normally flock Cross Street and spill into Third Street, but this year they invaded Fourth Street as well.
One man confided that there are business people residing in Third Street who would sell the firecrackers to the revellers. “I think that is one of the reasons why these people always full up through here,” he stated. Shivraj described the session on Tuesday night as one big party. According to the woman the people were consuming alcohol, gambling, making fun with the fire crackers and there were even vendors selling all sorts of food and beverages in the area. “Imagine,” she said, “my 78-year-old mother-in-law had to put spikes on her fence so that these people don’t climb into her yard and up her stairs. They terrify her.”
Mud stains were still on the walls of the Mandir when Stabroek News visited yesterday.
The interior fence had already been repaired According to the residents firecrackers which fell into the drain caused the water and mud to pitch on the walls. The fence collapsed after people climbed on it to get on the Mandir’s shed.
Some Cross Street residents who have young children were forced to send them to relatives that night. “I couldn’t keep my daughters here,” one father said. “I let them celebrate their Deepavali during the day and I sent them to my sister’s home that night for their own safety.”
‘Nobody seems
to care’
Shivraj and Ramdeen, members of the Ruimveldt/ Alexander Village Vishnu Mandir told Stabroek News that they were among the group who visited the Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee, last Friday and requested his help. “We knew what would happen this year,” Shivraj stated. “Last year the President had given us some help and the situation was under control. So we thought if we went to the minister he would help us.”
According to Shivraj, before their visit to Rohee on Friday morning they had dispatched a letter to him, President Bharrat Jagdeo and Commissioner of Police Henry Greene, on October 21. In the letter they informed of problems they faced on Deepavali night and requested assistance in maintaining tranquillity in the area.
Shivraj related that after they presented their problem to Rohee and informed him that they received help from the President the previous year, he told them: “‘Oh, you had help from the president? It was I who helped you. I sent the joint services.’”
“He just keep smiling when he tell we that. Is like that minister don’t believe what does happen here on Deepavali night,” Shivraj said. “Then I tell him about how de people would break into our yards and climb up our steps and you know what that man say…he tell we that he can’t stop de people from having fun and we must send dem down our steps.” When Stabroek News asked Rohee yesterday about this, he refuted the men’s account and said he would look into it.
Meanwhile, the police said its ranks made every effort to stop the use of squibs by members of the public in the area at the time. But Shivraj said that they made continuous reports to the Ruimveldt Police Station on Tuesday night and the police drove through Cross Street once around 10 p.m. and then returned just before midnight when the crowd had already cleared off. When the police car finally showed up before midnight, Shivraj said, she and other residents asked the four officers “what they’d come for now”. According to the woman one of the officer asked: “Wa de $#µ#† you want we do?”
Shocked
Indian religious and cultural organizations, like the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha and the Indian Arrival Committee (IAC), condemned the fiasco that occurred in the village. The IAC stated that they were “shocked and horrified at the evil and barbaric behaviour” of those who desecrated the Mandir. In their press statement, the Dharmic Sabha said that two years ago its President Pandit Reepu Daman Persaud spoke with the Commissioner of Police seriously on the matter.
Residents seemed hopeless yesterday and many said that they knew the same thing would happen next year. They said “nobody seems to care” and those who want to help can’t do anything about it.