Dear Editor,
I am compelled to respond to Ryhaan Shah’s letter in SN (May 6, 2015) in which she criticizes what she terms my Indian self denial. Indian self denial Ms Shah? Where do you live? I could never deny my Indian self. It is interwoven into the very colourful fabric of our society. It is the mango achar that pairs perfectly with cook up rice, it is the length of hair on our beautiful dougla children, it is the drumbeat that pulsates in soca, calypso and chutney music. My Indian self belongs to me as much as it does to Guyana. My ancestors brought their Indian selves here and made this country richer in its cultural diversity and I will celebrate that.
I will not celebrate and will deny and condemn any attempts by politicians and others to use my Indian self to create divisions with their calls to tribalism. I will deny and condemn any attempt to separate citizens like me from my family, friends and neighbours who are non-Indians. I will deny and condemn any attempt to vilify people on the basis of their race. If my ‘Indianess’ requires that I live in fear and perpetuate that fear for generations to come then I deny that too.
Ms Shah avoids any discussion on the substance of my letter namely the consistent call to race based voting by the former President Jagdeo. Does Ms Shah’s ‘Indianess’ preclude a discussion on this very ugly and destructive strategy?
Yours faithfully,
Nadia Sagar