Dear Editor,
I write to make corrections in the letter from Mr Albert Khan (SN, Nov 10) captioned ‘Played a central part in exposing rigged elections in Guyana, but Bisram omitted name.‘ Albert, as we called him, mixed up organizations and events and my roles in them and brought in unrelated events in his missive.
I do remember Albert as playing a role shortly after the formal formation of the World Union of Guyanese around 1990, the fast that was staged in front of the UN by Arjune Baichu of Georgia, and meeting US elected officials during the struggle in New York for free and fair elections in our homeland. I have not heard from or about Albert since around 1994. I did inquire about him from friends but they did not have contact with him either. I am pleased to learn that he is alive and well. Several of us joined in the fast (including Roop Persaud) playing different roles. I remember being responsible for providing refreshments for the breaking of the fast as well as storing literature, picket signs and equipment in my car which I drove almost daily to the fast site where I parked at risk of being ticketed for illegal parking. Persaud also took his taxi because he had to earn a living.
The omission of Albert Khan’s name in my letter was not deliberate, for there are only so many names I can insert in a short communication. There are several individuals (activists) who played extremely important roles in the struggle whose names (like Mike Persaud, Pandit Ramlall, Samad Ally, Roop Persaud, Joe Kanhai, Mel Carpen, etc) were also not included in the letter. This is in no way to belittle their contributions to the struggle. The list of names mentioned here and in the other letter is not exhaustive as there are others who contributed to the struggle deserving of recognition that should be done by the Government of Guyana. The omission of the name of Albert and others is deeply regretted. There is not enough thanks for the small number of those who struggled to restore democracy in our beloved homeland.
Albert’s reference to the Indo-Caribbean Federation contains inaccuracies. The idea of the ICF was initiated in 1984 in discussions held by Shrimati Bhanu Dwarika, Gora Singh, Karna Singh, Baytoram Ramharack and Vishnu Bisram at the residence of Gora in Brooklyn. There
was a follow-up discussion held at the residence of Bhanu in Elmhurst where Iserdhat Ramdehol joined the discussion and it was agreed to launch a federation of Indo-Caribbean organizations in North America.
The ICFNA was formally launched around Diwali 1984 at the office of realtor Shri Ramesh Kalicharran (Mr Vishnu Bandhu was one of the founders and Shri Rudra Nath, former headmaster, was elected President. The meeting took place. It was Bandhu who introduced the idea of business owners to close their business to celebrate Diwali and begin the process of an unofficial holiday). Myself and Ramharack never took an executive position in the organization as we made it clear that we wanted to spend my time focusing on the liberation of Guyana from the dictatorship. And I never studied to be a pandit. Ramharack and I were doing doctoral studies at NYU in Political Science. The ICF functioned smoothly for a few years. Conflict emerged a few years later and there were indeed two factions. One faction was led by Ray Sundar and another by James Permaul (not Kali). But the organization functioned as one and there was no formal breakaway and Indian Arrival was celebrated together annually in May. I never took sides in the conflict but remained very active in IFC and political activities lobbying politicians and communicating with world leaders about Guyana as did my colleagues Ramharack, Dev and Ramracha.
With regards to the World Union of Guyana, the struggle for free and fair elections did not begin at the time of the launching of the WUG in 1990. Ramharack, Ramracha, Lutchman (forgot last name) myself and others were involved in the struggle since the 1970s. Discussions for the formation of the WUG took place at my Queens home after Ravi Dev, Ramracha and myself picked up Dr Fenton Ramsahoye at the JFK airport from his London flight. It was the late Hassan Rahaman who initiated the contacts with Sir Fenton. A follow-up discussion on WUG formation was held at the Bronx home of Dr Ramharack. Several of us made financial contributions of $200 each. Ravi was the temporary treasurer. The organization was subsequently launched on Liberty Avenue at a real estate office (Reggie Rawana?). Apart from Ravi, none of us who initiated the WUG took an executive position as we felt the executive positions should be shared by members of other organizations. But we continued our pro-democracy activities. There are several people who played a fruitful role in the restoration of democracy and whose contributions have not been recognized. I salute their significant contributions.
Yours faithfully
Vishnu Bisram
