Former president Bharrat Jagdeo’s assertion that there is veiled “resurgence” of anti-Indian sentiments was made in his capacity as a private citizen, PPP Executive Clement Rohee said yesterday.
Last Thursday, at the funeral service for PPP stalwart Reepu Daman Persaud, Jagdeo said there seems to be a “resurgence in a hidden way” of feelings against Guyanese of East Indian-descent. His remarks have generated concerns about their potential for fomenting divisions.
At a PPP press conference held at Freedom House Robb Street yesterday, Rohee was asked about the former president’s remarks and he said that Jagdeo was not speaking on any PPP platform but in his own private capacity.
“The former president was not speaking on a PPP/C political platform… he was speaking at a private function. I am not distancing the PPP from what he said,” Rohee noted, while adding that the leadership of the PPP has not met to consider “the merits or demerits of the statement.”
“Any explanation should be sought from him,” he, however, added.
In issuing his comment, the former president referred to evidence raised in the ongoing court case, initiated by his libel suit against Kaieteur News columnist Freddie Kissoon.
Jagdeo has not appeared in the court case, which saw his chief witness Dr Roger Luncheon under pressure on the witness stand to explain why there was exclusion of Afro-Guyanese in some sectors—like the foreign service—and a preponderance of Indo-Guyanese, many of them on contract, to the Office of the President.
