PNM’s honest Indians

THE EDITOR: It was reported in the press that Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan said at a public local government elections meeting in Sangre Grande that “not all Indians in politics are thieves” (Newsday 30/11/19). Those who are not thieves (the honest Indians) are to be found in the PNM.

Further, he claims to have received tremendous support from a cross-section of the Indian community for his statement (Express 30/11/19).

I believe that Sinanan was referring to Indo-Trinidadian citizens since Indians are citizens of India.

I hold no brief for politicians or anyone else who may be found to be dishonest and corrupt. They should be subject to the required investigative and judicial processes and sanctions applied as deemed appropriate.

However, Minister Sinanan’s assertion raises a number of questions with inferences and imputations of a far-reaching import. Sinanan seems to have arrogated to himself impeccable credentials to pronounce on this controversial question and has assumed the role of assessor and judge of the attribute of honesty and, by extension, integrity and morality among Indo-Trinidadian politicians.

If it is reasonable to assume that Indo-Trinidadian politicians are largely representative of the mores of the Indo-Trinidadian community which now numerically constitutes the largest single racial minority in the country, then a logical inference is that a large segment of this population defined by racial origin is stigmatised as being bereft of honesty, integrity and morality.

It is quite an awesome indictment coming from an Indo-Trinidadian but it is not a new narrative emanating from the PNM.

In addition, Sinanan’s statement represents a party which committed itself since 1956 to establish and sustain morality in public affairs in this country. It is an open question whether, over the past 63 years, the PNM’s representatives and officeholders of all ethnicities have maintained the lofty ideal to which the party has officially subscribed.

If in spite of all the evidence to the contrary this position is maintained by PNM spokespersons, then another influence would be that such morality has been compromised only during the tenure of the two Indo-Trinidadian dominated administrations of 1995-2001 and 2010-2015.

If no conclusive determination can be made with respect to the above pertinent queries and expansive claims, it may be assumed that Minister Sinanan, forced into a defensive position, was also singing for his political supper.

TREVOR SUDAMA

former Indo-Trinidadian politician