Dear Editor,
From its inception the PPP embraced and encouraged persons of all religious persuasions to support and to join its ranks. The party never declared itself to be a party of atheists nor a communist party. None of this can be found in the past nor present constitutions of the PPP. Believers have never been forbidden to join the party. In fact, the party deliberately set out to recruit such persons into its ranks. In both the pre and post-independence periods, questions pertaining to religion were never advanced at fora where they did not belong. Neither was the Party’s attitude towards religion an opportunistic tactic so as not to scare away religious people. From the very early years, the PPP adopted a clearly defined attitude towards religion. It viewed religion as one of the oldest and most popular forms of social consciousness as well as to believers.
Concerted action between believers and non-believers was vital in the struggle for national independence. Under colonialism, it was the suffering and oppressive conditions under which people in the villages and wider communities lived that motivated religious practitioners in the temples, mosques and churches to gravitate towards the PPP. In his book, ‘My Pilgrimage from Jail to Glory,’ Pt. Ramlall referring to Dr Jagan soon after his return to British Guiana wrote; ‘He was a dedicated member of the Hindu religion and would often come to the temple to worship.’ Pt. Ramlall went on; ‘I knew Dr. Jagan was an active member of the temple. He used to worship and heard me sing many times.’ This description of Dr. Jagan’s religious beliefs and practices is in stark contrast to the manner in which some have painted him in those days as the ‘communist ogre.’ Dr. Jagan then joined the Labour Party in which Dr. Jung Bahadur Singh was a leading light. Referring to Dr. J. B. Singh, Dr. Jagan wrote; ‘He was a shrewd politician and carefully blended religion with medicine.’ The general election held in 1953 was characterized by an intense struggle between the working class ideology of the PPP and a small but influential group who propagated a toxic mix or race and religion.
Amongst the religious leaders at the time who served in the leadership of the party; as candidates on its electoral slate or as Members of Parliament were; Pandit Siridhar Misir, Pandit Chandra Persaud, Pandit Reepu Daman Persaud, Mulvi Yacoob Ally, Pandit Ramlall and Pandit Budram Mahadeo among others. This tradition continues up to this day. Under present day local conditions, unity of action and solidarity between believers and non-believers on the question of national unity; the right to elect a government through free and fair elections; defense of Guyana’s territorial integrity and national sovereignty and, above all, unity around key problems, such as the impact of climate change, a new oil and gas economy; social and economic progress; against foreign domination and building a democratic state are the broad and key prerequisites that will secure Guyana’s future. And, just as how divisiveness of our people along religious lines have disappeared, in the same way, step by step, division along racial lines will gradually fade with generations to come.
Sincerely,
Clement J. Rohee