Modi was not campaigning for PPP – PNCR executive member

Last Updated on Friday, 22 November 2024, 20:57 by Writer

Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton chatting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Also in picture is PNCR Executive Member, Ganesh Mahipaul and House Speaker Manzoor Nadir (in red outfit).

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s labelling of three top Indo-Guyanese members of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) as “ambassadors” of Indo-Guyanese would not hurt the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) at next year’s general and regional elections and did not amount to campaigning for the incumbent, PNCR executive member, Ganesh Mahipaul, said Friday.

In response to a question by Demerara Waves Online News about whether he believed that Mr Modi was campaigning for the PPP, Mr Mahipaul said, “I wouldn’t conclude he was campaigning for them”.

While Mr Modi credited Indo-Guyanese with fighting for freedom and democracy, Mr Mahipaul said that segment of Guyana’s population would next year vote against a government that does not practice “true democracy” and engages in corruption and is incompetent. “I don’t think his pronouncement has an impact or will have an impact on our elections because our people are not affected by what happens in India,” Mr Mahipaul told a news conference. He said Guyanese would vote on issues such as a high cost of living, inequitable distribution of resources, corruption, incompetence, and favouritism.

The Indian PM told an engagement with the Indian Diaspora and Indo-Guyanese that, “I salute the spirit of the Indo-Guyanese community. You fought for freedom and democracy. You have worked to make Guyana one of the fastest growing economies. From humble beginnings you have risen to the top.”

Told that none of the Indo-Guyanese in the opposition, including himself, was identified by Mr Modi as an “ambassador” for Indo-Guyanese, Mr Mahipaul remarked that “not saying it does not mean he doesn’t mean it.” “I’m saying to you that that statement will not have an impact on the elections of 2025,” he said.

The PNCR official said his party would be lodging a formal complaint with the Indian PM about the Guyana government’s exclusion from several events and there was no provision for him to meet the opposition. “His visit was done with complete disdain for the parliamentary opposition. It was unfortunate. It is not something that should be tolerated by any functioning democracy,” he said. Mr Mahipaul recalled that the then APNU+AFC administration had facilitated a meeting between Ghana’s President Nana-Akufo Addo and the then opposition People’s Progressive Party.

After the split of the PPP in the 1950s, that party’s bulk of its support was drawn from among Indo-Guyanese, and mostly Afro-Guyanese back the PNCR.