Dear Editor,
The caption intrigued: “Angad Singh: India deports Emmy-nominated journalist” (BBC August 26). I am asking myself who is Angad Singh. And the same inquiry stirs as to whether any Guyanese, either here or in the diaspora, would lift a finger, utter an honest syllable, in his defense. Incidentally, I speak of only one strain of Guyanese brothers and sisters. I never heard of Angad Singh before. But now that I know some of his work, I understand why he had to be deported by Indian powers, from the country where his family originated. It is his work as a journalist that raised hackles in high Indian circles, and unleashed righteous wrath in the same India, the world’s largest democracy, as we are constantly, rightly reminded.
Journalist Singh covered areas and wrote about issues that the big boys in India prefer not to be ventilated. Issues such as the second wave of the COVID-19 virus embarrassing leaders, the protests of farmers causing the government to backtrack, and that dangerous one revolving around citizenship pinpointing Muslims. Obviously, Mr. Singh was a prime candidate for deportation; he was fortunate not to be held indefinitely to teach subversives like him a lesson. I think his American citizenship was remembered, and that saved the day.
Editor, what Mr. Singh was doing in publicizing controversial spaces in India descends to the depths of race and religious betrayals, as seen by his peers and betters. Though a Sikh, I still insert the religious in the brew. I equate his exposés to when some of us (I speak in proper, colour-coded language today) dare to venture into the piranha-infested waters of discrimination, corruption, and lack of inclusion at the hands of the PPP Government and its cherished and worshipped leaders. I admit to overdoing the sugarcoated approach today, but I seek to enlighten, not to embarrass or enrage, I assure. Nobody wants to hear or read a word or phrase that challenges the standing narratives about the beauties, nobilities, and uninterrupted devotion to their duties of leaders in the PPP Government.
It is a thorny and thankless task, but since the activists, supremacists, and PhD purists are suddenly silent, left back-peddling on the wrong foot, then somebody has got to have the courage of their convictions to do it. That is, speak out and speak boldly and constantly. It would be delightful to read from the pens of all those good Guyanese who grandly hail the glories of the Gangetic Plain, and the many truly lovely things about India also found a few ounces of compassion in their hearts to say a word about Kashmir and that anti-Muslim tidbit in an Indian originated parade in New Jersey. But they wouldn’t; they leave those dirty jobs to pariahs and lepers, who need no intro.
Editor, I am not as concerned about what takes place in India or America, as I am about what happens in Guyana. According to the PPP, citizens are happy, there is clean governance, and there is principled leadership. My, my…., if only their own people would be so honourable, as to call them out; step up and say, please don’t do this to us, reality is way more unholy. In terms of principled leadership, I almost forgot to mention something that may lead to bad friends, as Guyanese often warn. It is that Mr. Angad Singh works for a media outfit called VICE News. I am unsure if it is the same that visited here, and created a sensation that interfered with the PPP song and dance about how cleanly they run things.
But just like how they ran this guy Singh out of town, an army of PPP supporters wished that that woman (sorry ladies for the Clintonesque) was never allowed to set foot here. In other words, she should not have been allowed to do any reporting and only good for instant deporting, with no supporting of what she shared. What is regrettable is that when I search for an Angad Singh among Guyanese luminaries they are all slaking their thirsts (and enhancing prejudices) from the PPP cup. Now, nobody has a bad word to say about what is going on in India or Guyana. Talk about sacred cows and untouchables. Talk about caste system and apartheid, and it is deportation time for outcasts.
As one American Vice President said: ‘the Vice Presidency is not worth a bucket of warm spit.’ I wonder how he would describe what we have here in beautiful Guyana. Being who I am, I lend a hand: the Vice Presidency is not worth a bucket in which to ‘pass water’ per Guyanese lingo. More here than anywhere else in the world.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall
