x Dear Editor,
In his letter published in the February 9, 2024 edition of S/N, Vishnu Bisram sought to have readers believe that had Jagan abandoned his ideological convictions, not hooked up with the Soviet Union and, had he hitched his wagon to the USA, he would have remained in office following the 1964 election. In sum, ‘Guyana’s fate would have been vastly different.’
According to Bisram’s simplistic analysis, the key to remaining in power for any Third World political leader at that time, would of necessity, required them to dump any anti-colonial, pro-socialist ideological convictions they might have espoused. According to Bisram’s analysis, had Jagan pursued policies similar to those earlier mentioned, Washington and London would have embraced him. Worse yet, as far as Bisram and his comrades are concerned, the greatest and unforgivable sin Jagan ever committed was to associate his party with that of the communist parties of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and Cuba.
According to Bisram and company’s logic, it was Jagan’s ‘communism’ that caused his Indo-Guyanese supporters to suffer, not Burnham’s bureaucratic, corrupt and discriminatory practices nor his failed cooperative socialism. So it was not until sometime in the late 1980’s after the collapse of the Soviet Union that Bisram and company became ‘educated’ about ‘communism’ and aware of the ‘consequences of Jagan’s anti-Americanism and pro-Soviet solidarity, that Bisram and company ‘parted ways’ on ‘Jagan’s philosophy.’ Strangely, during the decades while the USSR was a major world power, Bisram had nothing bad to say about the Soviet Union nor about Jagan while he was alive.
Bisram completely ignored significant contributions made by brilliant and outstanding Indo-Guyanese like Dr. C.R. Jacobs, Fenton Ramsahoye, ‘Boysie’ Ram Karran, Moneer Khan, Derek Jagan, Pandit Ramlall, Maccie Hamid, Yacoob Ally, Pandit Reepu Daman Persaud, Isahack Basir, Pandit Siridhar Misir, and many other outstanding Indo-Guyanese freedom fighters. Bisram chose to highlight a group he described as ‘stalwarts’ many of whom were not associated with the independence struggle, were never detained, imprisoned nor had their movements restricted. In fact, many, with the exception of two, were rabidly opposed to the PPP.
Some advanced crude religious and racist appeals associated with Hinduism and racism; some blended medicine with religion while others resorted to downright racist emotionalism using the slogan “Apan Jhaat,” meaning vote for your own race. Bisram chose to mount these individuals on a pedestal as ‘stalwarts’ and do-gooders’ who sought to rescue Jagan from his ‘stubbornness’ and to detach him from his ideological and philosophical convictions. Bisram and others repeatedly failed to take into account an important fact; Jagan’s ideological convictions never led him to betray his followers nor to fall prey to opportunistic tendencies; neither did his communist or socialist philosophy made the PPP lose a free and fair election; nor did his beliefs dissuade his supporters from standing firmly behind him and to give up on what he stood.
On the contrary, they supported Jagan throughout the difficult days before and after independence, till October 1992, when after toiling in the political vineyards, he finally triumphed. In the meantime, Bisram and company continue to snipe from the political periphery utilizing language that belongs to another era; that gains no traction other than to few trapped in the labyrinth of the past.
Sincerely,
Clement J. Rohee