Dear Editor,
Mr. Seelochan Beharry, an AFC candidate for parliament and a former member of the PPP who fell out with that party, in a letter captioned, `Bisram and the PPP’ (SN Nov 6) noted my presence at the India Day Parade 2011 along with that of representatives of the Guyana government and invited me to “offer some rational explanation …”. Beharry presented a photo of a crowd of people flocking President Bharrat Jagdeo and (incorrectly) contended that I was “holding the back of PPP Presidential candidate Donald Ramotar and a flag of India”.
This photograph was taken by Mr. Malcolm Harripaul, a former member of the PPP who also fell out with that party and is now a cheerleader of APNU (PNC). Harripaul was lurking at the fringes, playing hide and seek snapping photos of the Guyanese delegation at the parade. He was invited to join the parade but I suppose he preferred not to join the parade and opted instead to be a photographer pursuing the Guyana delegation. I thank him for the photo.
Beharry is right; I was holding the tri-colour flag of India. I am Indian-American and Indian-Guyanese, among having other identities, and am proud of my identity and ancestral homeland, having visited it about 20 times thus far and contributing as much as possible towards its development as well as lobbying Mother India for assistance for my homeland Guyana. Over the last 25 years, I (as well as Ramesh Kallicharran) have been encouraging Guyanese to visit India and to trace their roots, as I successfully did. So holding an Indian flag is not a crime for me and if it is a crime I proudly carry the punishment that comes with it. I am sorry to read that “optics” were not good for Beharry in seeing myself and other Guyanese at the parade. He should put on different glasses so he can see much better the importance of joining the parade.
Beharry fails to note, (maybe Harripaul failed to mention to him), that I was also wearing a golden sash with the word “PRESS” emblazoned on it. If one looks at the photo carefully, parts of the sash are shown. I was looking directly at Mr. Ramesh Kalicharran (gentleman with beard) and three of my fingers were touching (not holding) Ramotar’s back. Kali and I have been closely connected with the parade since it was founded in 1981 and we have been instrumental in institutionalizing the Indo-Caribbean presence at the parade – getting artistes to perform, etc. In addition, we successfully lobbied the FIA to invite and honour outstanding Indo-Caribbean leaders at the parade.
For the record, I am a reporter with several newspapers and a somewhat regular writer in Guyana papers. My “reports” about this and earlier parades have appeared in the papers in Guyana as well as in North America. Over the last 31 years, I have attended as many events as I could, pertaining to Guyanese overseas, many in the New York metro area and reported on them for the media. The India Day Parade is close to my heart and I have participated, publicized and reported on it for newspapers, ever since it began in 1981. I religiously have celebrated India’s independence since a child. So my presence at the parade, with or without Guyanese officials, is not surprising. It was expected of me to attend and if I were not present at the parade it would have been shocking. The only times I was not at the FIA parade were when I was celebrating India’s independence in India or some other country.
For the record, the parade played a historic and critical role in the struggle for free and fair elections in Guyana. My freedom fighter colleagues, Vassan Ramracha, Dr. Baytoram Ramharack, Dr. Ravi Dev (JD), Dr. Latchman Narain, Kali, Arjune Karshan, etc., used the parade to internationalize human rights abuses in Guyana – distributing literature, etc. shaming the dictators for denying us the franchise and access to our cultural diet. One year, Mr. Vishnu Bandhu organized a float (for his United Republican Party) calling for free and fair elections in Guyana. Another year, Kali and Mr. Yash Paul Soi organized a float on Guyana with the words Dr. Cheddi Jagan “NEXT PRESIDENT OF GUYANA” emblazoned on it. Every year at the parade, we were cheered for our work for our Guyana freedom-fighting activities by FIA officials and congregants at the parade. I am also proud to be associated with those freedom-fighting activities. And I thank Mr. Nirav Mehta and other past executives of the FIA for allowing us to partake in the parade. So Mr. Beharry, I have nothing to be ashamed of in joining my friends of the FIA and officials of Guyana in celebrating India’s independence. And there were no poor optics from Indo-Guyanese being associated with the parade just as there is nothing wrong in Afro-Guyanese joining independence celebrations of African countries in NY. The 1.2 billion Indians around the globe are proud to be associated with India’s achievements as a nation.
As someone closely tied to the parade and as a news reporter and a promoter of the parade, were Beharry and Harripaul expecting me to avoid the officials of Guyana? Any newsman can tell Beharry that a reporter “does not have to be close to a person to get access to him or her”. However, it is the job of a reporter to get as close as possible to a person to acquire info. Should I have completely avoided Ramotar? Was I not supposed to meet and greet him and my other Guyanese compatriots at a public event which I promoted? In any case, given that Harripaul knew of my association with the FIA and the parade and that I am a regular contributor to the newspapers, it is clear that he had a selfish and deceitful motif for publicizing this photo.
I can assure Beharry and readers that my touching (or talking with) Ramotar and PPP officials had (and will have) no effect whatsoever on my professional work as a pollster or as a reporter. For the record, I do have photos of myself and several politicians who are opponents of the PPP but none of that has ever affected my polling. Dr. Ravi Dev is a dear friend and so are Khemraj Ramjattan, Moses Nagamootoo, etc. We go way back and those associations in no compromise (d) my polling professionalism. May I also point out that Mr. Basdeo Panday of Trinidad and I have had a close relationship and we spoke regularly but that in no way affected my polling for I reported numerous times, much to his chagrin, that he would lose power and elections in 2001, 2002, 2006, and 2007, and 2010. Polling is not about friendship and association except if you are connected with Dick Morris. Beharry can ask the AFC about such connection and association. Polling is a professional responsibility and I can assure Beharry the findings of NACTA polls were professionally obtained. The public will know in three weeks the accuracy of the NACTA polls. By the way, we are in the fields polling again.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
