Category Archives: International

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

Kamla’s Delicate Dance

18 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 26, 2012

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeQuestion: If Trinidad and Tobago were one hundred percent Hindus, would our response to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar kissing President Pratibha Patil’s toes elicit a different response? I suspect it would. But only thirty five percent of Trinidad and Tobago’s population are Hindus and therein lays the conundrum. Such a move calls for a better understanding among the population and a more sensitive response from the PM in terms of her act of piety or respect as she calls it.
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Business, General T&T, India, Media, People's Partnership, Politics

Investment or assets sale?

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By George Alleyne
January 25 2012 – newsday.co.tt

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-BissessarGovernment should state clearly the nature and extent of the planned Indian investment in Trinidad and Tobago, which it is trumpeting, and whether this relates to the setting up of entirely new businesses or whether it will be the acquisition, wholly or largely, of State-owned and other existing companies.
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General T&T, Hindu, India, People's Partnership, Politics, Race and Identity

Kamla Spoils the Bharatiya Party in Jaipur

20 Comments

By Stephen Kangal
January 22, 2012

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar

It is patently clear that the staging of the tenth annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) pilgrimage to India by the Indian Ministry of Overseas Indians Affairs is geared and exclusively configured to exploiting and attracting for the benefit of the Indian economy the enormous wealth, political influence and entrepreneurship to be found within the 30 million Indian diaspora. Remittances alone to India amount to over US$50bn annually that is seven times T&T’s budget.
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General T&T, India, People's Partnership, Politics, Race and Identity

De Prime Minister Eh Dey

3 Comments

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

47 Comments

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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Court, General T&T, Law, Media, USA

Trini Scam family sent off to prison in U.S.

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Mom, dad & daughter ripped off immigrants

By Christina Carrega
January 12, 2012 – nypost.com

A seething Queens judge walloped three members of a crooked Richmond Hill family yesterday, sending them upstate to serve a combined 418 years for a brazen immigration and real-estate scam.

The mom, dad and daughter — dubbed “The Ramsundar Gang” by Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder — paid a shocking price for defrauding 19 families of $1.8 million over six years.
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General T&T, Hindu, India, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch

Jute Matting for Kamla at Delhi Airport

42 Comments

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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