Long before Basdeo Panday was born, a group of people comprising Hindus and Muslims gathered in San Fernando to celebrate Moharram. They insisted on the right to express themselves and as a consequence 22 were gunned down by the agents of the then British masters. That was in 1884. Twenty years after, still before Panday, a group gathered in Port of Spain to press for repeal of a tax that was considered oppressive. The police opened fire on what was deemed a mob. This was the so called water riots. The story goes on.
Even as Panday was about to enter school, a young vibrant Rienzi was in the process of mobilizing sugar workers and with TUB Butler, would seek the welfare of workers and all those who were victims of oppression.
When Panday returned from Britain, he joined the Workers and Farmers party and by the 1970’s was among the people fighting for what was right: for Equality and Justice; for the right of people to live with dignity.
And as he rose to prominence and led the sugar union he held hands with George Weekes and others to press for the rights of people, the rulers at the time, the PNM, moved against the marchers comprising thousands citizens of African and Indian extraction from the ATSGWTU and OWTU.
The fateful day -Tuesday,18 March,1975 - when the high hand of rulers sought to break the spirit of the people who had come together to fight for what was just. It has gone down in history as “Bloody Tuesday.”
It was out of this that the United Labour Front, led by Panday was born, born out of struggle, a struggle started by our forefathers for equality, justice and the right to self expression.
The next decade made for exciting political times as the movement of the people led to the formation of NAR. Panday found himself calling upon the people who had formed and supported the ULF to hold hands with others to form NAR. It was an experiment that led to the historic 33- 3 NAR victory.
It was not long before the NAR was hijacked and Panday was told to take his ten seats and go. The plot was to get rid of the ULF and by extension to alienate the base that has been the lifeblood of ULF. This was in 1987.
By 1988, Panday had rallied that base under CLUB 88. When on 16 October, 1989. he received a mandate from over 20,000 supporters who had rallied in spite of storm warnings and who had stood firm in driving rain and mud, Panday said:
“Today Almighty God has once more blessed us with the opportunity of making history yet again. This day will remain in your memory for as long as you live. You shall recall this day to tell your children and grandchildren on how on this momentous occasion you had the courage to stand up and be counted among those who changed the course of history.”
And so the United National Congress was born carrying forward a struggle; the dreams and aspirations of people who had felt a deep sense of alienation for more than a century.
When the NAR virtually died in 1991, the Dookerans and Persad Bissesars who had no role in the formation of this UNC vehicle of hope, sought a home in the then fast growing inclusive party.
When Panday led the UNC to government they and some fairweather friends were only to eager to join and sing the glory of the party in power and the man who was at the helm.
The same man who while outside of government had been branded as racist, communist and a host of other things and who is now being presented as the man who stands in the way of unity.
In this regard, even his critics cannot deny that Panday has championed the cause of unity among all those who seek genuine change. When in a web of intrigue the UNC government fell, like rats from a sinking ship many fair-weather friends disappeared.
Some remained in the hope that through the UNC and the scattered remnants of NAR they could somehow topple the PNM and enjoy the glamour, prestige and share of the spoils of a future government.
However, they soon became greedy and were in much haste, not to advance the struggle that Panday had inherited and led for more than three decades, but to advance themselves.
Thus began a process that saw invited consultants and their hosts making impassioned pleas for a change in the name and symbol of UNC and also pressing for removal of Panday as leader.
Dookeran came and left when he realized that though he was handed leadership on a silver platter, the people’s support was for Panday and that Panday would remain in the party to ensure that the UNC base was in no way compromised.
Dookeran would lead a reincarnation of ONR/NAR but power and office which he sought desperately would prove too distant. Some who stayed in UNC kept pushing for unholy alliances for they were prepared to have office at any cost and any price.
When Panday put the people’s cause first, the movement to get rid of him intensified inside and outside the party.
The hero, the “best Prime Mnister ever” was now to be painted as the key obstacle to power and office. They could not understand why office was not Panday’s primary goal but rather real change that would ensure an end to alienation, inequity and discrimination.
They pursued short term expedient goals while Panday had a much larger and long term vision. They forgot that Club 88 and subsequently UNC was born when the founders of UNC led by Panday put what was right ahead of what was expedient. They forgot that Panday could have remained in NAR and could have kept it in power.
He was after all Deputy political leader and minister. But he refused to be carried away by the glamour and glitter of office. He gave up power for what was right.
They say that he has grown old and that he must now quit; that he must hand over the party to those who would have power and office at any price and any cost even if the UNC has to die; even if its substantial base were to be left in tatters, fragmented and dispirited.
None of the opportunists can offer cogent reasons for the removal of Panday because, indeed there are none.
In fact, Panday has been the most successful leader of base that was nurtured by people such as Rienzi and which carried the dreams of those who died at the “Moharram Massacre” of 1884 and those who were victims of “Bloody Tuesday” of March,1975.
He remains today the most astute and vibrant politician of this era, not only in Trinidad and Tobago but in the wider Caribbean.
If UNC must live and if the struggle is to continue, Panday must stay to lead until he chooses to go or until the base throws up a new leader who will understand and advance the struggle.
The quicker the opportunists understand that the UNC is not in the business of power at all cost, not about the short term expedient and not a free ride for them, the easier it will be for them to understand the man called Panday.
Panday is relentless in his struggle for truth, justice, equality and for meaningful and lasting change. His carries the dream of a society where all would have equal opportunity for the pursuit of happiness.
This society needs Panday now in a socio-political climate that has seen over a thousand people killed in two years in a country gripped by fear and where there is a profound sense of helplessness.
UDECOTT, unfinished mega projects with huge cost overruns against a background of economic slow down and unacceptable levels of poverty, underline the need for Panday.
The way in which the new Property Tax bills were passed is a sign of how bad things are. The demonstrators were dismissed as irrelevant. Advertisements being run on how and when the new taxes would have to be paid even as Parliament debated the bills, suggest contempt for both Parliament and the people.
Unholy alliances that would be purchased at any cost; that would make for exchange instead of change, are of no value to the people. Such alliances make take us down a slippery slope.
Quite the opposite of what various propaganda machines would have people believe, this country needs Panday now as it did on March 15, 1975 and on October 16,1988.
Let us keep the struggle of our forefathers alive. We cannot compromise it. We must not give up at any cost. Where the blood of our forefathers was spilled and where their sweat has nourished the earth, we must protect and strengthen the movement that is the UNC and its base, and make it worthy of their noble sacrifice.
Dr. Rampersad Parasram | Chairman, CLUB 88, first Chairman of the UNC
(Dr Parasram is retired Chief Medical Officer in the T&T Ministry of Health. He is a community leader and Hindu priest)
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