Dear Editor,
I thank SN for publishing (Jun 2) my complaint of the racial abuse of Swami Aksharananda, the highest ranking title of a Hindu religious figure outside of India, the equivalent of a bishop in the West. It is worth stressing that no one should be abused or subjected to ridicule on account of one’s religion or ethnicity. The nation must be sensitized to the importance of respecting religious figures irrespective of their faith. The media and political leaders in particular have a critical responsibility to condemn and discourage such behaviour.
In my missive (Jun 2), I neglected to point out that the Swami was also disrespected last year while in transit at Piarco Inter-national Airport, Trinidad, by security agents while re-boarding a CAL aircraft for the continuation of his flight from Guyana.
The Swami was subjected to a detailed, lengthy and thorough interview and search. While everyone should be treated equally by security officials, regardless of religious background, the Swami was asked if he was “Muslim”. In multi-ethnic, multi-religious Trinidad (as well as Guyana), a trademark bright orange yellow garment has long been associated with that of a swami. It is incomprehensible why a security official working for an airline (a government officer) does not know that fact – strange that in a multi-ethnic society people don’t know or understand religious titles.
At any rate, a person’s religious background is not and cannot be the subject of an airline security related question.
An airline employee or security official in the US would be subjected to discipline if such a question were asked of a passenger. I penned letters complaining to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar of Trinidad, Foreign Minister Winston Dookeran, then National Security Minister Gary Griffith, and selected officials of CAL and the Guyana government. Griffith promised to look into the matter but I got no follow-up memo on actions taken. CAL promised an investigation but I got no further communication on the issue. No one else replied to the complaint. The Guyana government should have filed a formal complaint with CAL as well as with the Government of T&T since a national of our country was disrespected − not just any national, a religious figure, and a ranking one at that. Had the PPP government done its job of standing up for an eminent citizen and a highly respected religious figure, and if it had demanded action against the culprit, and had the incident made the news as it should have, perhaps those Guyanese who hurled racist abuse against the Swami last week would have thought twice about attacking him.
Although the abuse of Swami in Piarco made news in North America, I do not recollect it being reported in SN, a highly respected publication that people had at one time associated with credible, unbiased news and commentaries.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
