Basdeo Panday and about 300 invited guests, including opposition MPs and executive members of the United National Congress (UNC) celebrated the party's 20th anniversary Saturday at an ecumenical service at Rienzi Complex.It was an event of reflection for the veteran politician who is currently engaged in a bitter struggle with members of his own party.
Commenting on his career to reporters Panday said he has always relied on prayers to sustain him and help him survive the "vicious political attacks" that he has encountered in his 40 years of political life.
"It was through prayers that I survived the slings and arrows of political life," he said Saturday and suggested that religion should always be a part of every person's life, no matter what the person's religion.
In his address to the gathering the former prime minister noted the words in Trinidad and Tobago's national anthem: "Here every creed and race finds an equal place". He said they don't represent reality since the nation today does not give equal recognition to all religions.
"It is only a wish and not a reality," Panday said. He also addressed an issue he has always considered inappropriate - the word 'tolerance' in the national watchwords of discipline, production and tolerance.
Panday prefers to see the word 'acceptance' which he argues is more appropriate since the word tolerance does not embrace the concept of acceptance that's so necessary in creating harmony in the plurality and diversity in Trinidad and Tobago.
Panday launched the UNC at Aranguez in 1989, pledging to unite the nation. He called the new movement a crusade that people would join "not because of the colour of ther skins but the content of their minds," borrowing a line from the late American civil rights leader, Dr Martin Luther King, juinor.
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