Two Sundays ago, Guyanese were participating in Christmas celebrations with friends and family not suspecting that a swathe of shame was once again enveloping this country’s name 8,500-odd miles away, in New Delhi, India, at a function hosted by the former disgraced Guyanese High Commissioner Charrandass Persaud.
Yes, despite the fallout from the revelation of the video last October of the former diplomat cursing an Indian woman over the whereabouts of a stray dog, the disgraced former head of mission was still in residence. The protocol which should have followed the government’s knowledge of this unsavoury incident was the immediate recall of the diplomat, and profound apologies to Professor Sonya Ghosh, the insulted animal rights activist, and the Government and people of India. (The government said it was unaware of the fiasco, which occurred in August 2021 just months after Mr Persaud took up the position, prior to the release of the video.)
Apparently, the rules of protocol did not apply in this instance. Last month, the Foreign Ministry stated that Mr Persaud was no longer the High Commissioner, after the AFC received confirmed reports that he was scheduled to be the guest of honour at the India Economic Trade Organisation’s (IETO) reception on Friday, November 25, 2022. (The IETO is an official organ of the Government of India). So, two months after the furore erupted, there was a farewell gathering for the disgraced diplomat. This was apparently no staid occasion, where official statements were read, and humble apologies delivered. From all accounts this was a grand affair, with diplomats and special invitees, including India’s 1983 World Cup winning Captain Kapil Dev, among the dozens in attendance. This publication’s online report posted on Boxing Day (there was no print copy that day) had 178 comments (as of writing), one of which asked the $64,000 question, “That soiree was taxpayers’ money?”
Against the backdrop of a poster of himself, Persaud, attired in an Indian-style orange tunic with a sleeveless black coat, gave a speech in which he prefaced remarks on the disreputable incident as “a confession, it is an admission, and it is an apology”.
What he did instead was provide his version of the events. He related that Ms Ghosh, an English professor at Delhi University, had had a licence or court order to feed around 60 stray dogs and one of them had frequently entered his yard, waking him up at night and upturning the contents of his garbage bins. He acknowledged that he had ordered that the dog be strayed away.
“The lady came to the security and asked about the dog and the security told her that we took the dog away,” he stated. “She came the next day, and the security opened the gate to come in and get me. This lady barged in behind the security right up to my door and banged on the door. The security finally got her back out of the yard and I came out. When I came out, I asked her what she was doing in my yard. She said she is here looking for a dog… I said I don’t have a dog in here…
“You would not believe; I was surprised at the expletives she handed me …I have to admit that I responded in kind. So, I believe women, all of you women here, would love to be deemed equal to men. You have equal facilities and everything… well if you are in a fight and you pick a fight with a man he should say ‘no you are a woman I am not going to fight with you?’ You want equality, let’s go to the fight and see what happens. I did what I did out of anger…”
To the cheers of supporters in the background, Persaud added, “What I did as High Commissioner was wrong…. I owe my friends, my colleagues an apology for behaving in a manner not becoming of a diplomat. I was angry. I did not exercise diplomacy and so I spoke to the President – that video surfaced in October of 2022 just recently in Guyana. And instead of the President taking the flak, I told him I say ‘Look don’t worry about this. I will leave India and that will bring an end to the whole story’ …that is why I am leaving”.
Finally, he said, “I apologise to the people of India, to the Prime Minister, to my colleagues who are all diplomats …to my government and the President in particular. He said, ‘Are you sure you want to return to Guyana?’ I said ‘Yes, because the people from various walks of life will literally take the hair off of your head …’”
Persaud did not offer an apology to Ms Ghosh, whom he had addressed with a string of vulgarities and lewd actions. Instead, there he was pontificating at a self-aggrandizing farewell charade, evidently not remorseful, even challenging women to a fight. The conduct of a man who clearly has no respect for women.
The government’s response to this second shameful exercise was silence. Should this be viewed as a condonement of Persaud’s statements and an endorsement of his view on this subject? As this column pointed out on 28th October (SN Editorial, Mr Charrandass Persaud), this government lends to “the compulsion to never disclose, never admit and wherever possible, to deny or engineer a cover-up. There is no question of adhering to principle here; this is all about never being seen to have made a mistake or being seen to be wrong.”
There has not been (nor will there be it seems) a public rebuke of Persaud’s vulgar behaviour. This was another sad moment in the history of our country. What new lows have we sunk to now?
The name Charrandass Persaud is now permanently etched into our history. In some quarters he is viewed as a quisling, while others consider him a hero “for voting with his conscience” – whatever he conceives that to be – against his party, the APNU+AFC Coalition, in support of the then Opposition PPP/C No-Confidence Vote on 18th December 2018.
Given his posturing last Sunday, one imagines this is unlikely to be the last hurrah of Charrandass Persaud who from all accounts “agreed to leave India” on his own terms. To date, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not released any correspondence on the end of his tenure at the posting. The question that must be posed is where will Persaud surface next? Of course, as the tail continues to wag the dog, we can expect further silence from Takuba Lodge, which is probably just wishing this incident will quickly blow over and be forgotten. Too late, this latest shameful stain on our diplomatic corps is permanent.