Political Kuchoor & other Distractions...

As is usually the case with a mid week holiday (in this case the Divali holiday on Tuesday) my weekly column was pretty much wrapped and ready to go, that is, until I heard our erstwhile MP for Chaguanas West and his 'Kuchoor' speech to the faithful at the Divali Nagar and a re-write became practically unavoidable. In his first address since his 'Nagar-boycott,' Jack explained to the faithful in attendance with all the sincerity he could muster that a religious festival was no place for political confusion by saying - "I know I would have disappointed some of you, because some of you came tonight to hear some kuchoor and to hear some politics and to hear about politicians who come in here politicizing Hinduism. That is not for tonight. There is a time and place for everything" – after which he proceeded headlong and headfirst into pure political confusion (the definition of kuchoor), thinly veiled mauvais langue and almost open attacks against those he considered his 'enemies,' in spite of their insistence on ignoring him altogether. For his part the Leader of the Opposition Dr. Keith Rowley, over whose attendance at the opening of the Divali Nagar this comically racist attack (one Afro-Trini fighting another for the 'exclusive' right to attend an Indo-Trini festival) was triggered, has remained steadfast in his refusal to be drawn into Jack's latest sideshow despite Jack's insistence that the show must go on; but then this is a man who has never really needed anyone else's help to make himself a clown when he wants to, so on he went.

“We must be wary of those who seek to deceive, perpetrators of illusion, impostors,” he said, which reminded me of PanJack (Or was it BasJack?); yes there were other variations of this same 'love-on-a-UNC-bed' theme long before there was a KamJack, like RamJack, his short lived tryst with former Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj.

“Evil will come to us in attractive clothes. Dangers will come to us in pretty, polished packaging. They will advertise paradise and glamour, a good time. But instead they lead to misery, ruin and pain.They will come to distract you, to tempt you away from your strong moorings, to separate you from your family and to draw you out of your safe zone.” As if reading from his own playbook, this is possibly the closest Jack has come to a Freudian slip and to those willing to hear, a revelation of his intentions for the UNC.

“Beware of demons in disguise,”  he thundered, blissfully unaware of how heavily that very statement fell back on him. Either he missed the lesson when he was taught not to spit into the sky or its unavoidable consequences, but if that was Jack being sublime, his next statement epitomizes the ridiculous, because there he was in the best imitation indian attire money could buy telling the crowd that “wearing a Kurta does not make you their friend.” The silence that followed said it all, and words can only struggle to say what every man woman and child in attendance must have been thinking the very moment he stepped onto that stage.

No Jack, wearing a kurta does not make you Hindu or an Indian in much the same way as putting rubber slippers on a 'tawah' does not make them  sada roti. Your latest incursion into indecency shows that nothing is sacred to you, and what is even more clear and to use your own words, there does not seem to be anything you are unwilling to destroy to get your way. In my strongest best wishes for my Hindu brothers and sisters I pray that they wake up to the reality of the true deceivers amongst them, those intent on riding their backs to personal riches and power while throwing baubles and shiny trinkets at their feet. I wish for us all regardless of country of origin that we recognize that we are all children of one nation, one mother, one people under one flag. May the light of Divali shine that message unto us all...Shubh Dival Trinidad & Tobago.