In the height of the political warfare between the Congress of the People (COP) and the United National Congress (UNC) during the campaign for the 2007 general election COP appealed to UNC deputy leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar to cross over and join the new party.The Siparia MP turned down the invitation, declaring that she was comfortable in the UNC and that was where she planned to stay.
On Saturday, the former attorney general was a guest at a Congress of the COP and COP leader Winston Dookeran again invited Persad-Bissessar to "come over".
Dookeran had invited Persad-Bissessar to address the congress and she used the opportunity to make a passionate appeal for political unity to stop the "Manning machine". She said now is the time to put aside differences, leave the past behind and unite for the sake of the country.
Dookeran agreed that a united opposition is a step in the right direction. "I want to tell you the solution for that is simple. I ask all the members of the UNC to come and join with us."
But the COP crowd was not in synch with the leader and made it clear that while they were willing to embrace Persad-Bissessar and UNC members, UNC leader Basdeo Panday was not welcome.
"Not Panday!" members of the audience shouted.
Dookeran, who quit as leader of the UNC because of differences with Panday and the UNC executive, did not respond to that but said, "The stone which builders rejected has now become the main politics in Trinidad and Tobago."
He agreed on the need for unity and said, "The presence of Kamla Persad-Bissessar is a bodacious expression of hope, and I thank you, Kamla, for coming here, and I hope that your presence will usher in a new future, a new sense of order and a fresh start in our politics."
Dookeran had also invited another UNC deputy leader, Jack Warner, who declined the invitation. Dookeran had said Warner he invited as FIFA vice-president to talk about sports. Some COP insiders view that as a big mistake which has created an unnecessary embarrassment.
Warner considered the invitation insulting since he and Persad-Bissessar have equal standing in the UNC.
Warner is fighting his own battle for change within the UNC and has become a UNC pariah with his current "Caravan for Change" aimed at educating UNC members and the masses of the need for change in order to defeat the governing People's National Movement (PNM) and return peace and stability to Trinidad and Tobago.
Dookeran said COP has noted Warner's initiative and pledged to invite Warner to meet with him, while at the same time boasting that COP is the only platform where people can talk freely about unity and change.
Dookeran invited UNC members who endorsed his call for his new politics in 2007 to stand with him now.
"I ask the 10,000 people who came out in Mid-Centre Mall (in 2007) to remember that we must get our politics right or we shall have no country in Trinidad and Tobago".
He warned of the danger of holding on to the past. "There is no point in going back in the same politics and behaving the same way because, then, you will end up with the same results," he said.
While both parties spoke about the need to unite and Persad-Bissessar called Saturday's efforts a tiny "baby step" in that direction, the mood among some members didn't reflect the passion that both Dookeran and Persad-Bissesar publicly displayed.
While they were both agreeing on unity, none of them was seriously talking about it. "I have called for the COP to join the UNC...I repeat that call, the COP and UNC must come together," Persad-Bissessar said.
She noted that all opposition forces united in 1986 and removed the PNM from office, breaking the party's 30-year hold on power and said they can do it again.
Persad-Bissessar tried to play down the clear rejection of her leader by the COP crowd. "I am sure there will be challenges for all of us. We are committed to trying," she said. "We must continue to try despite the obstacles."
She promised to update Panday on what transpired.
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