Kamla steers clear of Sat diss

OPPOSITION Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday steered clear of the diss she received last Friday from secretary general of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS) Satnarayan Maharaj over her support of OJT teacher Nafisah Nakhid.

Facing reporters after a service at the St Joseph Presbyterian Church to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the church’s presence in TT, Persad-Bissessar made it clear she was not going to engage in any “tit for tat” with Sat over his attack on her.

Maharaj, in a programme on Jaagriti TV, criticised Persad-Bissessar for defending Nakhid after she was told she could not wear her hijab while teaching at the Lakshmi Girls’ Hindu College which is located on the compound of the Maha Sabha headquarters in St Augustine.

Maharaj also withdrew Persad-Bissessar’s invitation to the annual Indian Arrival Day celebrations put on by the Maha Sabha and warned she would have a “hell of a price to pay” as he called on Hindus to “free” their votes.

In response to questions about Maharaj’s comments, Persad-Bissessar said, “This is not about Kamla. So I do not want to get drawn into a tit for tat across the country. He has his constitutional rights, freedom of expression...It is his event. So I take all of it in stride. I am not going to get drawn in any tit for tat across the table.”

Persad-Bissessar attended the the church service along with Opposition Senator Khadijah Ameen and Opposition MP Barry Padarath.

Persad-Bissessar is an alumnus of Iere High School, one of the Presbyterian schools in TT. In her speech to the congregation, Persad-Bissessar told of the role the Presbyterian Church played in her growth and development.

Speaking later to reporters, Persad-Bissessar said she was not surprised by Maharaj’s withdrawal of the invitation for her to attend the Maha Sabha Indian Arrival day function. “When you get to my age nothing surprises you anymore. Nothing.”

There have been calls from some to boycott the event including pundit Satyanand Maharaj. In Newsday’s Sunday paper, Satyanand said, “The vicious attack of Sat on the Leader of the Opposition and the rescinding of the Indian Arrival Day event is the response of a petulant delusional child.”

But she did not support a call for boycotting the Maha Sabha’s event. She said she does not believe anyone should engage in boycotting activity.

“If you were planning to go, go. If you were not planning to go, stay home. Let us delight in out differences, let us not divide because of our differences,” she said.

The issue has also once again raised discussion about the 1960 Concordat which prescribes government’s relationship with denominational boards and how they run their schools.

Persad-Bissessar said, when asked if the Concordat should be revisited, there was a need for “an interpretation of what is permissible and what is not permissible” under the Concordat in 2018.