Husband, father, brother, friend and loyal party man was how hundreds remembered Navindranauth (Navin) Omanand Chandarpal who was also described as a man always willing to speak for his beliefs and was a “true patriot.”
Chandarpal, 63, a former Minister of Agricul-ture, lost his two-year battle with cancer last Tues-day and from the reflections of many at his funeral service held at the International Convention Centre yesterday, he was a man of great stature but one with whom the ordinary man felt comfortable.
His wife Indranie (Indra), to whom he was married for 36 years, told those in attendance that she does not regret life with the father of her two children and said that he left a treasure chest of memories.
The couple’s union bore son Rabindranauth and daughter Gitanjali and according to Indra, a former Minister of Human Services & Social Security, his love for her remained constant and he was the kind of husband every woman would treasure. “A great father,” was how she also remembered her husband and from some of
the memories shared by his children, Chandarpal was certainly so as he was constantly involved in their lives up to the time he died. They reminisced about how he walked with his tool box whenever he accompanied his daughter when she moved and spoke of the fact that his son cannot tie a tie today because his father always did it.
But even as Chandarpal was remembered by his family as the consummate family man, his three sisters remember him as the big brother who always led and who protected them during their childhood days and even when they became adults. Many in the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) remembered their comrade who was ever constant.
He was a comrade who was versed in science and sustainable development and so keen he was to ensure the growth of his party that he forsook reading for a master’s degree at a university in England to return to Guyana and head the Progressive Youth Organisation (PYO) as requested by the party’s late leader Dr. Cheddi Jagan.
According to President Donald Ramotar, Chandarpal joined the PPP at a difficult time when members were being harassed by the police force of the time but he chose to be part of the party because of his convictions. “It was a time when bribery was a part of the day, buying out parliamentarians, when many, many shifted either because of the pressure of oppression or because of the lure of money that shifted them away from the party. Navin stood his ground and that showed the character of the person,” the President recalled yesterday.
Chandarpal participated in protesting the denial of employment to the late Dr Walter Rodney at the University of Guyana and also helped to defend Arnold Rampersaud who was imprisoned on “trumped up charges.” Ramotar said that the best part of his comrade’s life was making a contribution after 1992 when he was at the heart of everything, working closely with the party in making decisions. “He was a very important and valued person,” he said of Chandarpal who was a sustainable development, science & technology presidential advisor at the time of his death.
Prior to being a minister, Chandarpal served as advisor to the President on energy, natural resources, science, technology and the environment from 1992 to 2001.
His contribution to the environment and sustainable development in Guyana is said to remain significant. He piloted the first Environmental Protec-tion Agency and was instrumental in the creation of the Iwokrama Inter-national Centre. He was also responsible for laying the groundwork for a land use agenda in Guyana and a science and technology policy.
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Meantime, taking a jab at some of the PPP’s opponents, Ramotar said that he is already seeing some “people beginning to write, some who betrayed the movement and left, beginning to write about him and use him to criticize the PPP…I have seen some of those and I expect more of those to come in the future,” he said.
“He made a full and useful life and (is) leaving the world a far better place than when he came,” said Ramotar.
General Secretary of the party Clement Rohee described the death of Chandarpal as an incalculable loss for the PPP and the working class. He said that the late party member embodied all that was good and healthy within the party which can now honour him by carrying on his legacy. According to Rohee, Chandarpal was a revolutionary and he contributed to all the critical debates in the party while playing key roles in the formulation of the party’s manifestos and reports presented at congress.
”His contributions were sharp…” he said.
Rohee also said that Chandarpal was committed to the party’s principles and would want the PPP to be rid of undesirables, who by their misdeeds, do damage of the party.
Chandarpal, according to his wife, was an ordinary man who connected with the grassroots people. She recalled the many persons whose lives he impacted and who played integral roles in making him feel comfortable and special during his ailing years. His many relatives (he has 105 first cousins) and friends overseas made life easier for him while he received treatment and being the first male child in his family line meant that he was special to his aunts.
His funeral saw many in attendance and he died at a time when the party is facing a crisis with an impending no confidence vote-pushed by two of his former comrades Moses Nagamootoo and Khemraj Ramjattan now of the AFC-and Attorney-General Anil Nandlall being called upon to resign following the exposure of a recorded conversation with a Kaieteur News reporter. During yesterday’s funeral, some in attendance were heard discussing the issue.
Both Nagamootoo and Ramjattan were among the members of the opposition who were in attendance at the funeral. APNU’s Chief Whip Amna Ally and parliamentarian Winston Felix were also present but both left during the president’s speech.
