Erect statue in honour of Dr Mahabir

THE EDITOR: I have been keenly following the debate about the Christopher Columbus statue. However, I am not commenting here on the controversy. But I believe there needs to be a statue of Dr Kumar Mahabir, either in Port-of-Spain or the compound of the National Council of Indian Culture (NCIC) in Chaguanas.

Mahabir is the greatest historian I have ever met. He is humble and has helped organise NCIC conferences. He has been given the distinguished job of editing a forthcoming volume of conference papers from a recent NCIC conference.

Mahabir has published the most magazines, articles and books on Indians in Trinidad. For his many years of educating citizens, he was given a national award, the Hummingbird Medal.

Mahabir taught for many years at UTT and has presented papers at international universities and has always tried to promote racial unity.

The Maha Sabha should also consider naming one of its schools in honour of Mahabir, who attended Hindu primary and secondary schools. Also, he assisted the late secretary-general of the Maha Sabha with many newspaper columns.

DEVANT HANU MAHARAJ

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