UNC MP: Hindus 'ready to fight' to burn dead on open pyres

AFTER unsuccessful attempts to get Government to reverse the ban on open-pyre cremations or explain the science behind the decision, the Hindu community is getting ready to fight back.

Attorney and Opposition MP Dinesh Rambally accused Government of taking the Hindu community 68 years backwards, to 1953, when they had to fight for the legal right to cremate their dead.

Rambally said that bitterly-fought-for right has been snatched from them by the covid19 health regulations which now prohibit the age-old traditional custom of open-air pyre cremation, mainly practised by the Hindu community.

He is promising to fight back for the restoration of their religious rights.

On the United National Congress (UNC) Virtual Report on Monday night, Rambally said there was no consultation with the Hindu community when this policy was being drafted.

He said it is extremely painful, especially when the two men who endorsed the policy and can bring about changes – CMO Dr Roshan Parasram and Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh – are themselves Hindus and familiar with the traditions.

“This is very grave and distasteful.

“Way back in 1953, Hindus fought for the right to cremate their dead. They fought for legal recognition of their entitlement to cremate.

"Today, that we are experiencing that time as a flashback as Hindus, to that time. as Hindus are being deprived of their religious entitlement to cremate, without any proper justification.”

Rambally. who is also attorney for the Maha Sabha which is trying to get this measure reversed, said neither man even acknowledged receipt of their five written requests, including one on behalf of 13 Hindu organisations, to meet and explain on what basis outdoor cremation has been suspended.

Since the pandemic, he said people who want to cremate their dead who died of covid19 have conformed and complied with all the protocols.

He said they have also agreed to change some rites, use a body bag, not use an open coffin or touch the body, and forego sacred aarti and fire rituals,

The cost has also been prohibitive with a family paying between $8,000 and $10,000 more and waitinglengthy periods for their dead to be listed for indoor cremations, which incurs hefty storage fees.

Nevertheless, he said Parasram and Deyalsingh have been silent on the science behind this policy, since the WHO, which Government relies on for guidance, has not banned open pyres.

“Well, my friends, there comes a time when talk done, and action to follow. All of their contempt is on the public record, unmistakable as the stench of a dead body.

“I want you to see clearly the kind of disrespect and disdain and derision that the Hindu community has been treated with by these excuses for leaders. By their silence they are showing scorn for our economic plight.

“I want to promise you that this fight is not over. Far from. We will fight any disproportionate and baseless policy that restricts the Hindu community’s right to burn their dead in open pyre.”

He defended his defiant stance.

“It is not often I get into this kind of tune and to speak in this way, but when leaders are driven by pride, derision, contempt and when they cannot heed the anguished cries of their citizens, when they wilfully fail to do what is right, they go down in history as failures and traitors to their own people and nation.”