Dear Editor,
As I read Vishnu Bisram’s third lengthy letter, ‘Mehta’s letter was neither biased nor arrogant,’ (SN, August 15), denying my assertion that a member of President Jagdeo’s staff sought an invitation from the Federation of Indian Americans (FIA) for the president to attend the FIA activities, I was reminded of the quote from Sheakespeare’s Hamlet, “The lady doth protest too much.”
Mr Bisram stated that he was proud of his Indo/Hindu-centric identity and even goes on to justify it giving the analogy of David Hinds, Eusi Kwayana, Clive Thomas and a few others. Such a comparison is an insult to these men who chose to uphold African peoples’ traditional values of high morality and democracy in government. This caused them to expose and confront an African-Guyanese dominated regime that had transgressed against the Guyanese people in the 1970s and ’80s.
In stark contrast Mr Bisram’s “Indo/Hindu-centric” identity does not embrace the traditional Hindu quest for truth as he regularly issues propaganda and polls in support of the Indian-Guyanese Jagdeo government that has transgressed every law in the land, especially the financial regulations. What is worse is that Mr Bisram wants to showcase President Jagdeo to the FIA as a good president when the facts point to the very opposite.
At a personal level Mr Jagdeo has been involved in marriage fraud, and his close friend Ed Ahmad has been charged with mortage fraud. Mr Ahmad shipped 29 tons of building supplies to Mr Jagdeo. Henry Greene’s US visa was revoked because the Americans alleged he had benefited from the proceeds of the drug trade, yet President Jagdeo retained him as Commissioner of Police. An Asst Commissioner of Police has alleged that some officers were tied to drug lords. President Jagdeo sold his house for US$600,000 – above market value.
Such scandals have made the Jagdeo regime the most unpopular one ever in Guyana. In NY Mr Jagdeo has become so wary of protestors that he has been forced to sneak around in an ordinary car with no police or secret service in an effort to avoid Guyanese. He only shows up at private functions where the same 15 to 20 PPP faithful are recycled from one event to another.
Unable to attract large crowds of Indian-Guyanese, President Jagdeo resorted to the FIA celebrations which will attract 250,000 people from India, including 20 Bollywod stars. Mr Jagdeo will probably then exploit the photo ops to persuade Indian-Guyanese that he has the support of Bollywod. In this regard Mr Bisram has been laying the groundwork by constantly rehashing old PPP propaganda.
Yours faithfully,
Malcolm Harripaul