Demonising a colour: A mark of insensitivity, desperation

THE EDITOR: A good example of the UNC’s growing dysfunctionality is the Opposition Leader’s speech in Moruga last Monday. Sounding like a cult leader, Kamla Persad-Bissessar SC spoke of an election campaign of “blood.”

She likened the red worn by government supporters to the blood of the victims of crime: “For the last ten years, all you see and smell is blood all over our country.”

She continued that “red is the colour of horror, death, danger and destruction.” She even managed to get the words “dead babies” into her speech, and asked supporters to “close your gates…close your minds, and most of all wrap up your soul when you see that blood red brigade.”

I ask reasonable-minded citizens of my country, what kind of insane talk is this for someone who hopes to be prime minister? What kind of country does Persad-Bissessar expect to govern should she win the upcoming general election.

Let me remind Persad-Bissessar that red is also the colour of Lord Hanuman, and many Hindus have spoken to me with concern about her demonisation of anyone wearing this colour.

After all, red is the most popular colour jhandi which Hindus proudly hoist in their homes. The bellowing red flags signify victory of good over evil, auspiciousness and identification of the devotee with God.

Red is the colour of sindoor which Hindu women wear as a mark of honour among married women. It is never relegated to being merely symbolic. As a mater of fact, the wearing of sindoor is in itself a ritual which Hindu women perform to increase happiness in their marriage and longevity for their husbands.

Hindu brides wear red sarees signifying the celebration of life.

And every Hindu who offers the uruhu red flower particularly during the Nau Raatri (nine nights of devotion to the female aspect of the supreme) does so with confidence that the red kum kum and red flower are desired ingredients of the goddess.

For those who don’t identify with the above significance and symbolism and think that it is all a storm in a tea cup, it gets worse when you think about it.

Persad-Bissessar ostensibly meant the PNM supporters in their red shirts. But the constant repetition of “blood” and “blood money” were disturbing in the associations they sought to create.

Whatever else the Opposition Leader thinks the PNM supporters are, I say that they are people like myself, they are Trinidadians/Tobagonians. They support the party of their choice, and unlike UNC supporters, their party actually wins elections. Despite being in opposition to the PNM, I maintain the PNM and its supporters are political opponents, not enemies.

It is ironic that Persad-Bissessar in her speech mentioned the “unconscious” urge that manifested in the choice of red. I wonder if she can see the manifestations of her own unconscious urges in the current UNC?

The party is crippled, its institutions non-functional, many members are not taken seriously by the population for various reasons. And those unburdened by these issues are the ones she wants to expel from the party. Is the party an unconscious expression of its leadership’s preoccupations?

But that’s enough about Persad-Bissessar. Her time has come and gone. I address citizens at large.

An election year is not a licence to hurl vitriol and bigotry. We cannot remain silent while a minority of people take our political thinking off course and into the political trash heap, only spreading hate and division in the process.

We must ask ourselves what kind of society do we want our children to be a part of.

What type of country do we want our children to live in.

Who wants to live a life of hate?

I end by saying that despite our differences, political and otherwise, we can move forward and build our country if we are a united people.

DINESH RAMBALLY

Mayaro MP