The Hindu community needs to guard against individuals who are bent on distorting the history of the Hindu community in the Caribbean to project themselves as champions. Instead of writing history to promote truths and facts, these Max Mullers are not only distorting but also truncating it to nullify sections that stand in their desperation for glory.
The work of the Hindu Jawaan Sangh and the Hindu Seva Sangh under the leadership of Haripersad Harikissoon is one such target by these Max Mullers of the Caribbean. Bent on projecting themselves as the champions of the Hindu community, these conspirators are using their guiles and cunnings to win social approval and recognition.
I was happy to learn that youths are now interested in the true history of their community. It only eveals that the youths are sensing that false narratives are being peddled. While there are half literates imbibing every word that flows from the mouths of these demagogues and their minions, today’s youths are awakening to a new reality.
No denial and falsification of history is going to succeed in subverting the contributions of the Hindu Jawaan Sangh and the Hindu Seva Sangh led by Haripersad Harikissoon, Ramdath Jagessar, Dr Primnath Gooptar, Boloji, Krishna Dube, Kumar Rambarran and so many others.
The revival of Phagwa in the mid-1970s, the development of Indian Arrival Day in the 1980s into a national holiday and the youth development camps of the 1980s and 1990s, all have their genesis in the work of the Jawaan Sangh and the Hindu Seva Sangh. The construction of the Sewdas Sadhu statue by the Hindu Seva Sangh in 1995 in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Indian Arrival Day inspired the re-building of the temple in the sea at Waterloo. The Sundar Popo Statue at Debe was another project that members of the Seva Sangh made possible in collaboration with other organizations and individuals.
An urgent effort must be pursued to educate the Hindu youths on the history of the community so that they would be able to separate truth from falsehood. With the emphasis on STEM subjects, history and the humanities have been casualties, thus leaving our youths vulnerable to half-truths, lies and innuendoes. I am happy that our youths want to know the truths of our pasts and not the distortions peddled by the Max Mullers – Aurangzeb nexus parading as champions of Caribbean Hinduism.
