Desecrating sacred Hindu scripture for political mileage

Dear Editor,
Pandits Ubraj Narine and Deodat Tillack have been making frequent appearances at the APNU/AFC rallies to render Hindu prayers, including the chanting of Sanskrit shlokas (verses). Unfortunately, they have massacred these revered ancient texts by their gross mispronunciations and translations.
Though I am not a scholar of Sanskrit, I read and write the language, and am quite familiar with many of the shlokas. I have stayed in several ashrams and lived in a part of India where folks are inundated with the Sanskrit language and culture.
The pandits ought to know that the Sanskrit language is not merely an old religious language; it is much more than that. Uttering verses in Sanskrit is virtually a spiritual experience, and it ought to be articulated in that mode.
On Jan 31, Pandit Deodat Tillack supposedly recited the shloka Brhadaranyaka Upanishad I.iii.28), the original being:
asato ma sadgamaya (Lead me from untruth to the truth)
tamaso ma jyotirgamaya (Lead me from darkness to light)
mrtyorma amrtam gamaya (Lead me from death to immortality).
The Pandit, however, rendered the following explanations:
‘Asato ma…’ ”Lead us from the falsehood of the PPP propaganda to the truth of the APNU/AFC!”
‘Tamaso ma…’ (in the middle he started to giggle!) “Lead us from the darkness of oppression – from the 23 years of oppressive rule to the light of wisdom – the rule of the APNU/AFC Government!
‘Mrityor ma…’ “And lead us from death and fear of victimisation to the knowledge of immortality, and the knowledge of a bigger, better Guyana.”
Pandit Tillack’s renditions and explanations elsewhere of the Maha Upanishad 6.71–75, and the Bhagavad Gita 2:47 and 4:11 are just as atrocious. The one redeeming feature of Pandit Tillack is that his constructions sound and appear authentic – even though they are far from it.
Pandit Ubraj Narine’s recitation of the Hindu ‘asatoma’ prayer at Bartica rally on Feb 7, 2020, was more scandalous. His mispronunciations were awful, and he ended that prayer with an untrue explanation, saying it meant “And [deliver us] from life to truth”. There’s absolutely no accuracy to that explanation!
The problem with these sanctimonious, authentic-sounding Pandits is that people are in awe because they sound so authentic, and they trust these individuals because they are “Pandits” and because they are uninformed of Hindu chantings – and dare not question them! It is a case of “one-eye man in blind man country”. Unfortunately, the one-eye man dem are deluded to think that they know where they are going and leading themselves and others astray.
Pandits Ubraj Narine and Deodat Tillack have a moral obligation to the Hindustani people in Guyana and elsewhere to apologise for desecrating their sacred scripture by their gross pronunciations, errant translations and politicising of the holy shlokas for political mileage.

Yours truly,
Dr Devanand
Bhagwan