OPINION: Prime Minister Modi outdid himself, then overdid too

Last Updated on Friday, 22 November 2024, 21:10 by Writer

by GHK Lall

Guyanese are sure going to have fond memories of Indian Prime Minister Shree Narendra Modi’s visit here. It was from India to Guyana with love. The love was a little too much at times, too targeted, too narrowly isolated. In the euphoria of Modi-ji’s official visit, Guyanese looked the other way, rushed past some of what he said, some of the areas he touched. On the positive side, PM Modi outdid himself. Relative to the negative, he overdid it. I thought he was a little on the cavalier side, should have known better, or been coached and steered into calmer waters by his own people here. Official representatives in Guyana.

The first time I read the Indian Prime Minister’s words, I had to blink and read again. I blinked once more. No! He is not saying that didn’t say so. I read that President Ali and VP Jagdeo are ‘ambassadors to Indo-Guyanese.’ In a sensitively poised society like Guyana, Mr. Modi should have been better informed, better guided. I think so. There is no doubt that both great Guyanese sons are seen by many here as superb ‘ambassadors’ for them. But if there ever was an issue and a posture that is sure to drive a wedge between the two major races in Guyanese, then that was it.

Who is the ambassador for African Guyanese if not bhais Ali and Jagdeo? They cannot be seen as lesser ambassadors, or ambassadors unworthy of such mention, regardless of actions that stand in the record and counter what I place in the public domain. I think that His Excellency, the Indian ambassador drifted a little on whispering beforehand how racial polarization and racial differences fester in this country. Ambassadors to all Guyanese rings more resonantly, and it is my belief that some damage has been done, no matter the soft reactions. Further, since oil (lifts and linkages) featured so highly on Mr. Modi’s wish list, it is challenging to accept at face value that he could have been so, shall I respectfully say, wrongfooted. Because on many occasions that Guyana’s oil comes up in the global media, there are the accolades, and there are the cautions. The former includes the significance of oil for Guyanese; the latter repeatedly warns of that devil that makes life so unsettled in Guyana: ethnic tensions.

In truth, PM Modi started out with his well-meaning verbal gesture (ambassadors), then dampened it, if not degraded his initial noble utterance by limiting their ambassadorship to “Indo Guyanese.” It is surprising that the local outcry has not been more pronounced. Frankly, there has been no pronouncement at all on where the prime minister slipped. For some vigilant Guyanese, it provides rich and expressive confirmation of what President Ali’s One Guyana is truly about. Some may wonder if it was accidental or the exuberance of the moment, the great stir and flush of events. I wonder what the reaction would be if an African leader of stature were to pay an official visit here and declare Mr. Aubrey Norton or Nigel Hughes to be worthy ambassadors for African Guyanese. Or worse still, if Prime Minister Brigadier (ret) Mark Phillips were to lead a State visit to India and laud Prime Minister Shree Narendra Modi for being an ambassador, a hero, for Indian Hindus.

Nothing is ever left alone in this country, especially those that hint at some imbalance, some construction, that favors one group over another. It could be the two primary ones, and to those, one could add the indigenous, mixed, and other minority ones. To highlight one and neglect the other is a call to a stream of the curses and clashes that accompany such (sometimes) innocent lapses in speech. Guyanese know so, because they live with it, what has been to their detriment.

On another note, only slightly less eye-opening, it appeared to me as if PM Modi was campaigning for the PPP. All he needed was a red shirt and a red cap, along with a red cup to get his message across without saying a word. It was out in the open, and open for any kind of less than favorable interpretation. I am surprised that his words and actions occasionally lacked the nuance and restraint that I expected from a politician of Mr. Modi’s success rate and longevity. Was he less about the premediated and more of the careless? Maybe. Then again, I could understand, look the other way, with one slip of the tongue. My challenge is how to react to his probable slip of the mask. Politicians are good with their timing. Mr. Modi was a little too good with his. They are also well-versed in working the angles. I say with more than usual confidence that Narendra Modi milked the angles with the flair of a geometry master.

Ambassadors for Indo Guyanese in one toothy breath, then taking matters into mined and barbed wired territory of not-so-subtle campaigning for his political hosts. He should have stuck to energy, both fossil and renewables, which was why he came here in the first place.