Category Archives: India

General T&T, India, People's Partnership, Politics, Race and Identity

De Prime Minister Eh Dey

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 20, 2012

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI have never accepted V. S. Naipaul’s description of our society as being half-made or our people as mimic men and women. Some years ago, I wrote a trenchant criticism of Naipaul’s work in which I responded to those designations in an effective manner. For the past three weeks, I have been traveling in Germany and England. As I view our political landscape from afar, I cannot help but get the impression that our Prime Minister is playing dolly house with our people’s future; fiddling around which their good nature; and treating them with a contempt they do not deserve.
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Culture, General T&T, Hindu, India, People's Partnership, Politics, Race and Identity

To Goar or Not To Lagay

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By Stephen Kangal
January 15, 2012

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar receives the Pravasi Samaan Award in Jaipur
PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar receives the Pravasi Samaan Award in Jaipur

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar attempted to touch the feet of The President of India, Shrimatee Pratibha Patil in true Trini Hindu-style of performing the “goar lagay” after receiving the Pravasi Samaan Award in Jaipur. The question is whether she has compromised the concept of the sovereign equality of states and infringed the secular configuration and contours of governance by this Hindu act of humility, respect, diplomacy and submission.
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General T&T, Hindu, India, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch

Jute Matting for Kamla at Delhi Airport

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By Stephen Kangal
January 06, 2012

Stephen KangalOur Prime Minister the Hon Kamla P. Bissessar is paying an Official State Visit to India, her ancestral homeland at the latter’s invitation after an interregnum of 15 years, Basdeo Panday being the last to do so. She is also the Chief Guest of the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh at the Annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas to be held in Jaipur from the 7 to 9 January. The PM is accompanied on this official state visit by seven Government Ministers and a public-private sector entourage numbering in excess of 100 participants.
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Culture, General T&T, India, Race and Identity

Celebration of Wine to Rejection of Women

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By Stephen Kangal
December 26, 2011

Stephen KangalThe infectious lyrics of chutney this Xmas have currently emancipated itself from the celebration and adoration of the rejected “rum till I die” theme to genuine social commentary/analysis of the deteriorating, dominating and lack-of-confidence conduct of the young Indian woman inside and outside of the marriage contract.
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General T&T, India, People's Partnership, Politics, UNC

The Prime Minister as Goddess

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 13, 2011

Annabella stocking want patching
She want de doctah to help she with dat
Johnson trousers falling
He want de doctor help he wid dat
Some want a zephyr motor car
Others want a piece of land
[Now] Dorothy loss she man
She want to complain to Doctoh Williams.

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIn 1958, as the demands upon Dr. Eric Williams grew, the Mighty Striker penned “Don’t Blame de PNM” in which he elevated Dr. Williams to the status of godhead. Dr. Williams may have been ironic in quoting this poem in his autobiography. However, Striker was on target when he satirized the fickleness of our people’s understanding of government when he observed that even when yo’ lose yo’ man, yo expect the prime minister to help yo’ with dat.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, Hindu, India, Opposition Party, People's Partnership, Politics, Racism Watch, UNC

Let the Jackasses Bray

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
November 29, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThere is blindness among the leaders of the UNC government that will lead to its demise. Overconfident by the results of May 2010, it refuses to see that its victory was not so much an affirmation of their prospective policies (which were ill-thought out at best) but a refusal of citizens to accept what Mr. Manning and his team were doing. In rejecting PNM the electorate stated categorically that they were against Manning’s increasingly tendencies of one-manism, his refusal to listen to others; and his knee-jerk support of Calder Hart whose practices left many persons uncomfortable.
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Africa, Culture, General T&T, Hindu, India, Labour, People's Partnership, Politics, Racism Watch

Sat and Devant on the Saddle

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
November 15, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeSat and Devant riding high on de saddle now and dey driving a hard bargain. Many who voted for the UNC never expected them to thrust Sat and Devant on we with such force, guns ablazing. Even those who refused to vote (and I am culpably in this regard), are feeling uneasy about what is happening in the country. However, I do not think those who voted for UNC and those who abstain should feel badly. They did the correct thing in telling Patrick Manning that he had gone too far and had to be restrained. That is the essence of democracy. Whenever things go out of whack, a countervailing force always steps in to correct the excesses of any party. Silvio Berlusconi who ruled Italy supreme for seventeen years is gone. Muamar Gaddafi ruled Libya for forty two years. He’s gone. As my mamma used to say, “Nothing lasts forever.”
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Africa, Complaints, Culture, General T&T, Hindu, India, Media, People's Partnership, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch, Schools

Sat Blocked Black Children

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By Ria Taitt
November 11, 2011 – trinidadexpress.com

Secretary General of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, Satnarayan MaharajPeople’s National Movement (PNM) MP Patricia McIntosh has slammed the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS) for its conduct at the Tunapuna Hindu Primary School in denying equal opportunities to pupils of different denominations, particularly black children who reside within the catchment area.
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Culture, General T&T, Hindu, India, People's Partnership, Politics, Religion, UNC

Hindu Ethics and Morality

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
November 02, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeSpeak to any non-Indian in Trinidad and Tobago and one is asked the same question: What dese Indians want? It may be an unfair question, a paranoid response, or just the reflection of feelings of anxiety. Yet, there lingers in the minds of many non-Indians that there can be no pleasing Indians in Trinidad and Tobago. Do they yearn for equality or do they seek dominance?
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