Freddie Kissoon’s vitriolic vituperations against Swami

Dear Editor,

I find it increasingly difficult to understand or accept Freddie Kissoon’s vitriolic vituperations against the venerable Swami Aksharananda. Such ad hominem attacks unnecessarily detract from the many serious core issues affecting our small society.

Freddie Kissoon takes umbrage at Swami Ji’s rightful admonition of the Principal of Central High School for allowing Pastor Anderson to sermonise the ‘innocent minds of young students attending a public school in Guyana, which is legally a secular state, and of which our current Government has formally acknowledged social cohesion as a major pillar of its governance.

In this context, I vividly recall, ironically, in the then colonial British Guiana, when as the Head Teacher of the Hindu College at Cove & John, a secondary school run under the auspices of a Hindu religious order, we catered for the separate religious needs of the various students, so much so that in the absence of a Muslim teacher, I, a staunch Hindu, assumed the role of a Muslim teacher in leading the daily prayers for the few Muslim students.

How can any right-minded Guyanese tolerate the reported Pastor Anderson-type of Christian proselytising in a public school in our secular and independent Guyana, let alone someone of the stature of Professor Kissoon?

Freddie’s column elaborates on a series of racial and political occurrences over the years in a manner that appears to suggest that he equates racism with religiosity. With all due respect, I wish to suggest that he and our fellow Guyanese desist from this; we have far too many cases of Indo-Guyanese being Christians, Muslims and Hindus while similarly being of varying political persuasions to indulge in stereo-typing. Please, please let’s deal with substantive issues without being personally abusive!

Sincerely,

Nowrang Persaud