Coronavirus leading to race bias?
East Indians or the people who settled from India in Trinidad and Tobago are calling out the Prime Minister of T&T, Dr Keith Rowley, for racial bias when it comes to rescuing the people of Indian origin who are currently stranded in Barbados due to Coronavirus pandemic.
A newspaper report put more fuel to the fire in the ‘race bias’ claim when it was revealed that out of the 33 stranded citizens of Trinidad and Tobago 31 are of the Indian origin or the East Indians.
The race bias claim came out after it was said that the majority of the Trinidadians and Tobagonians stranded in Margarita and Suriname were also of Indian origin while the government allowed more than 60 cruisers of African descent to enter the country.
Pundit Satyanand who raged on the topic suggested the Rowley government to show heart. He pointed at the race bias saying that the ‘Rowley Government has shown it simply does not care about citizens of this country especially if you are of East Indian decent!
We have been taunted with cries of Go Home.’
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Another citizen keeping an eye on the situation, Surujadeo Mangaroo says that while the Rowley government does not want to ostensibly talk about race but all it actually wants is ‘for us to stop talking the truth and to stop calling you out.’
PM Keith Rowley is pointing out at another Indian origin Prime Minister, Moses Verasammy Nagamootoo of Guyana for not rescuing the citizens as it could lead to overwhelming Guyanese medical capabilities.
In a sharp attack on the newspaper that highlighted the underlying ‘race’ issue, Rowley said:
“As Prime Minister, I do this job only in keeping with my oath of office, lonely and thankless as it is, I do it because somebody has to do it. There will be another time when somebody else will have to do it and I will be the most understanding of their plight.”
Most people of Indian descent are still overwhelming Hindu. As per the 1990 official census, the Hindu community accounts for 24 percent of the total population of Trinidad and Tobago.
Keith Rowley had in the past forced to apologize to the Hindus due to the brash behavior of his partymen doing a saree disrobing act that was widely seen as being disrespectful towards saree wearing women.
In 2018, the government of Trinidad and Tobago had come under fire for not issuing student permits to Jamaican students interested in studying Hinduism in Couva.
