Panday’s brother Subhas on ex-PM’s legacy: ‘BAS’ NEVER FORGOT HIS ROOTS

THE last surviving son of the Panday clan, Subhas Panday, said despite the loss he is feeling, his heart is filled with pride as he reflected on the life of an enigma whom he had the privilege to call his brother.

“I am proud to have had Basdeo Panday as my brother,” Subhas, an attorney, said in an interview with Newsday, thee day after his eldest brother, former prime minister Basdeo Panday, died in Orlando on January 1.

He believes his brother died from the same disease that caused their mother’s death.

“They said he was collecting water in the lungs and apparently that converted into pneumonia.

“On New Year’s Day, he had a meal and was talking and laughing with his family when he developed a cough that did not stop. He was given oxygen, but he died around 2.17 pm.”

He said his family had placed the man they fondly called “Bassant” on a pedestal.

“He was the blue-eyed boy for my mother. He was the light of the family. He was the glow. He could do no wrong.”

As someone coming out of poverty, Subhas spoke of his brother’s many accomplishments – as an actor, on stage and in the movies, as a trade unionist, lawyer, politician and prime minister.

“But he never forgot the steps that he climbed to reach where he was. He always looked back for the poor in society.”

Panday was an achiever, he said, and pursued education as the key to escaping poverty. He said he accomplished a lot in his life.

Against all odds and criticisms, he made a cane cutter, Dora Bridgemohan and Spiritual Baptist Archbishop Barbara Burke, senators. Panday defended his decision, Subhas said.

“He said he wanted to make a statement that the lowest and poorest in society could sit in the highest court of the land.”

In a candid interview, Subhas said, “We came from nothing. We came from the lagoons, from the cane field, and he did not want the next generation to continue that legacy.

“Our parents came to TT in the early 1900s at the tail end of indentureship, and soon after, my brother was born.

“Our parents were illiterate and remained on the estate as gardeners.”

Subhas recalled that Panday was a brilliant boy and excelled as a student at St Julien Presbyterian Primary School, walking four miles each way. Determination led him to pass the entrance examination for the prestigious Presentation College, San Fernando.

As gardeners, his parents did not possess any kind of wealth to cover the transport cost to and from San Fernando, from where he lived in St Julien’s, in an area called Coonook, which was devoid of any proper housing or amenities.

Panday was determined to escape from the cane fields and a relative took him in at San Fernando, affording him the opportunity to attend his alma mater.

At the end of his school years, he was sent back to St Julien’s and back to the cane fields, which he detested.

“That used to anger him. He used to go crazy. He was determined, come hell or high water, he was getting out of the cane field.”

While weighing cane, Panday encountered the Seereram brothers, who assisted him in getting a job as a teacher at Seereram Memorial Vedic School, Chaguanas and later at Barrackpore Vedic.

During his tenure as a teacher, he wrote and passed the civil service examination and was sent to work as a note-taker for then Justice Noor Hassanali, who would later become the president.

“Justice Hassanali had a great influence on my brother, who ended up in England to study law. He could not get a job and ended up working as an electrical helper laying cables on the road. He spent 15 hours (a day) on the job and could not get time to study.

"He, however, decided to do a diploma in acting and communications and got several acting roles in the London theatre and on the screen.”

Soon, Panday went to the University of London, where he studied philosophy, politics and economics, and was on his way to India, having secured another scholarship, when he came home to say farewell to his mother before leaving for his ancestral land.

As fate would have it, Subhas said, Panday had a chance meeting with trade unionists, politicians and attorneys, such as CLR James, Joe Young, George Weekes, Francis Mungroo, Jack Kelshall and others who deterred him from going to India, enticing him with a life of trade unionism.

That decision changed the course of his life and fulfilment of his vision to help the less fortunate. The Workers and Farmers Party was formed.

All the candidates who contested the general election in that year lost their deposits. That did not deter the young Panday, who started working at Kelshall’s law office, with former speaker Nizam Mohammed, also an attorney.

He became editor of the OWTU’s Vanguard newsletter and ended up facing a charge of contempt for calling Hassanali the late Dr Eric Williams’ “shoeshine boy.”

His oratory skills were discovered when in the no-vote campaign in the 1970s, Williams, then prime minister, caused Point Fortin MP Roy Richardson to cross the floor and become opposition leader.

It was in this incarnation that Panday was appointed to the Senate and his experience as an actor got him noticed as a skilled orator.

He later assumed control of the sugar union on the death of its leader and one of his first acts was to advocate for a 100 per cent increase in the wages of sugar workers at Caroni (1975) Ltd.

“Because we came from agriculture and were very poor, my brother had a special love and weakness for those in a similar situation.

“At that time sugar workers woke their children at 4 am to take them into the cane fields to help. My brother put an end to that. He told the workers now that their salaries were enhanced, they should ensure the children went to school and not to the cane fields.

“He had a passion for education. During his tenure as prime minister he built 19 schools, including the Biche High School which was criticised by (Finance Minister) Colm Imbert as a school for ‘lagahoos and douens.’

“He initiated the Dollar-for-Dollar programme at a time when oil was US$9 or US$10 a barrel, telling people with bright children to put a dollar towards their university education and government would match it. He brought down crime when under his administration, Dole Chadee and his gang were hung for the murders of the Baboolal family.

“He ensured the downtrodden Baptists were liberated and given the Shouter Baptist holiday.

"He really did a lot for this country, and I think what he did, many of us cannot do in two lifetimes.

“He was sharp, witty and give fatigue as good as he took it,” recalling at a political meeting when someone in a passing car shouted at him, “Panday, you are a dog,”  he immediately replied, “Thank you, my brother.”