It seems like Jack Warner is determined to use his political office to cause racial and ethnic acrimony in Trinidad and Tobago. That is the only logical conclusion one can come to with this man's inane weekly statements that repeatedly receives "silent endorsement" from the Prime Minister and by extension this government. So Jack's latest gnashing of teeth on behalf of the Hindu community comes in the form of a claim against the radio stations for not playing any bhajans in the lead up to Divali but almost 8 weeks before Christmas they flood us with carols.
Let us first deal with Jack's selective folly, how come Jack did not make the same claim prior to Eid, Double 10 or the Shouter Baptist Holiday? People of African descent make up the second largest ethnic group in this country and I say with utmost confidence that all my life I have never heard an indigenous African song tribal or otherwise playing on any local stations, but I have heard many Indian songs. How come Jack does not speak about this?
According to a 2000 consensus as stated on the CIA World Fact Book the religious denominations in T&T are as follows, Roman Catholic 26%, Protestant 25.8%, Anglican 7.8%, Baptist 7.2%, Pentecostal 6.8%, Seventh Day Adventist 4%, Hindu 22%, Muslim 5.8%, Other Christian 5.8%, Other 10.8%, unspecified 1.4% and none (which includes me) 1.9%. Without having genocide or any major internal conflict it is highly unlikely that between 2000 to present there would have been any major changes to those percentages over a 12 year period. If one were to add up all the "Christian" based denominations one would find that the Christian community in this country is roughly 76.2% while the Hindu community is a meager stand alone 22%,. Therefore it is only logical that any religious holidays that center around Christianity will be given more attention by the populace than the religious holiday's of smaller sects.
But if Jack so wishes he is free to utilize the funds he was going to use to buy the T&T Mirror and instead buy Radio Jaagriti 102.7 FM and play bhajans 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. I assure him it would not matter either way to the average Christian Trinbagonian, I highly doubt there will be a mass religious conversion to Hinduism and it definitely does not matter to the non-religious like myself. So to Mr. Jack Warner I say Namaste, go in peace my brother, I'm sure Christian T&T along with their Hindu brothers and sisters are praying for your speedy mental recovery.
