My fear of radicalism and communalism
I thought they would not. At the same time I feared that arrogance would prevail.
Arrogance has actually won over reasoning. Now Seychelles is bracing itself to face radicalism, and also communalism in the next 30 years.
This potential calamity has been designed to happen. We pray God for protection.
When I was sailing to La Digue mid-morning of 18th September, I kept receiving text messages of nomination day events, and the candidates qualifying.
“He is in,” one text said.
The sender was referring to S Suharsan Naidu who is the LDS candidate for St Louis in the forthcoming National Assembly elections.
I had been reading in The Independent of 18th August 2020 which carried three front-page articles about Wavel Ramkalawan “playing the Indian card”. What worried me the most was the subtitle about Wavel “delivers first of 13 promises to Indians”.
Before the elections of 2015 and 2016, Wavel Ramkalawan did write to the Tamil community to get their backing.
Among the promises:
• I will place qualified Tamil and Indian origins in suitable positions in the Cabinet, also as Principal Secretaries and as Advisors.
• Laws and regulations for GOP and Immigration will be simplified.
• A time slot will be allocated to the Tamil Community to telecast or broadcast their programs in television and radio.
• I will give recognition for those Indian and Tamil people who have served in the government service for very long.
There are nine other promises. The court of justice heard all the 13 promises.
Singling out a community in a nation to give them preferential treatment when they were already doing very well, is communalism. It is also favouritism. Our melting-pot nation does not deserve that after we have lived together harmoniously for so many years.
Nobody in Seychelles prevented people of Indian origin from acquiring almost the entire trading business in our country. Actually, one man at Grand Anse was overheard saying that the STC supermarket there needed to be taken over by an Indian for it to provide longer hours of service. They are also doing well in construction, and buying up properties. Nobody is organizing a movement against them.
I strongly believe that the subject of communalism is also being deliberately exploited by LDS, at this time of elections, in order to make some people angry and cause division among the electorate. As written in a publication, the issue of racism would then arise, hoping to galvanise the support of the Indian community.
Pat Pillay is partly of Indian origin. The late Chamery Chetty was of Indian origin. Ramkalawan celebrates his Indian ancestry. Therefore there was no reason for Ramkalawan to play the Indian card for him to get elected. His communalism policy represents affirmative actions to hand over our islands to the Indian community. Indians, naturalized or born here, are Seychellois. They are Creoles. I don’t doubt that they are patriots sharing one homeland with the rest of us. They should not be treated separately, as if they are not doing well enough.
A video on social media shows an opposition man punching the air and calling for radical change in Seychelles. He is Sudharsan Naidu, the LDS candidate for St Louis.
It is scary. Understandably, people have been expressing horror. Radicalism and communalism will lead to racial tension.
Other opposition people have come to the defence of the man after someone had expressed the fear of communalism. Arrogance is making some in the opposition feel that they have reached such a high point in their political career whereby they can now utter anything, and do anything, because there are people to readily accept it. Yes, some people blindly follow the extremists.
Radical politics denotes the intent to transform or replace the fundamental principles of a society or political system, often through social change, structural change, revolution or radical reform.
As Alain St Ange said, radical change happened in Seychelles on 5th June 1977. He suggested there was no need to go this way again. Today, when we look at the affiliation of people like Robert Grandcourt and Gilbert Victor, we may question the real intent of Preserve Seychelles.
Ramkalawan’s pledges to the Indian community are for the long term. By the time we free ourselves from the euphoria of change, from the effect of alcoholism and drug abuse, it will be too late. The negative change is happening in front of our own eyes. We are seeing the LDS line-up of presidents for the next 30 years. Ramkalawan of Bihar, India, hopes to be president for the next 10 years. Ahmed Afif of Indian complexion is being groomed to take over for the 10 years after. Naidu will then be ready to take over for another 10 years. No presidential opportunity in the next 30 years for persons of other ethnicity.
No Prea. No Adelaide. No George. No Zialor. Where is Manuella Valentin?
Whilst the Black Lives Matter movement gathers momentum worldwide, in Seychelles it is OK in this day and age to tell Chantal Ghislain that she does not know from which part of Africa she comes from. A history forbidden to teach. It is OK for Bernard Sullivan of the opposition to lash out at Seychellois of African ancestry, as if these islands and LDS belong to only a privileged few of other skin colours. And my heart bleeds when I see fellow Seychellois who share my black skin colour applauding such outdated beliefs just because they follow the same political party.
In 2020, all lives matter.
The lives of the drug addicts on methadone treatment matter. The lives of the elderly citizens and their carers matter. It is radicalism on the part of Jean-Francois Ferrari to suggest that the elderly would be deprived of the carer service. In order to save millions of rupees. It is radicalism to call for cold turkey treatment. It is radicalism to close down the popular STC hypermarket.
We have witnessed radicalism in the National Assembly when LDS MNAs did not vote for the new 2020 Budget which has made available money to pay private sector workers during the COVID – 19 pandemic. It was radicalism when Ahmed Afif questioned government’s decision to have a more humane way of dealing with redundancy and pay cut during the pandemic.
Manuella Manu Valentin invited people, on Facebook, to say Je suis Sathya, every time somebody expressed disagreement with communalism. One of the people agreeing with her was Bernard Sullivan! The pot and the kettle comes to mind!.
The issue is not about Sathya Naidu the person. It is about the breeding of communalism by Ramkalawan. And about those around him letting him have his way. Naidu is a fellow Seychellois, well-loved in the bigger Creole community. He should not have been a product of the breeding of Ramkalawan’s communalism.
It is the letter, stupid!
M Charles
