Apologise for cremation ban

THE EDITOR: Open letter to Stuart Young, MP and acting Prime Minister.

Decked in sartorial elegance and with eloquent words, you gave a speech last Thursday night, to a captured audience, at a religious function in Munroe Road. You indicated your respect for Hindus, their places of worship and their traditions. The effort of MP and Pandit Rambally in inviting you to participate in a Hindu ceremony, in order for you to gain an appreciation of our traditions, is appreciated.

There you also expressed a strong desire for and belief in national unity. In light of these noble sentiments and to give credence to them, I respectfully call upon you to apologise to the Hindu community, on behalf of your government, for the severe trauma and financial losses incurred and the sense of disenfranchisement experienced by Hindus triggered by the banning of open-air cremation during the covid19 pandemic.

This was done despite data being provided that it was being done elsewhere. This constituted not only a denial of our fundamental rights to worship, but was later determined to be also unconstitutional.

Finally, can you kindly give an update on the status of the effort in apprehending and subsequent prosecution of those responsible for the reprehensible acts of desecration of several mandirs.

PRAKASH PERSAD

pundit