Hindus Call on Mr. Charles Ramson, PPP
Commissioner on the Disciplined Forces Commission to Resign After his
Politically-Motivated, Cowardly Attacks on H.H. Pujya Swami Aksharanandaji.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please scroll down page:
1. Mr. Ramson asked me some irrelevant questions - Rahyaan Shaw, President of
GIHA
2. Some of Ms. Shaw's evidence did not relate to relevant issues - Charles
Ramson, PPP Commissioner on DFC
3. GIHA was asked to give evidence to support its submission - Rahyaan Shaw,
President of GIHA
4. Mr. Ramson's remark show a lack of awareness of Hindu culture - Omesh Sharma,
President, Hindu Seva Sangh, Canada
5. Ramson's letter suggests bias - Balram Samaroo
6. Upset at Mr. Ramson's attack on Swami Aksharananda - Members,
CaribbeanHindu.org & CaribbeanHindus@yahoogroups.com
Mr. Ramson asked me some
irrelevant questions
Author: Rayaan Shaw
Source: Stabroek News, 9/24/03
Dear Editor,
I have received numerous requests from
Hindus in Guyana and abroad requesting information on the questions asked of me
by the PPP’s commissioner on the Disciplined Forces Commission, Charles Ramson,
regarding Swami Aksharananda’s robes and change of name.
The whole line of questioning was totally out of order and if this kind of
conduct continues to be allowed, it could bring disrepute to the DFC, its work
and its findings.
Because Swamiji was one of the contributors to the GIHA Crime Report, presented
to the DFC as part of GIHA’S submission, Mr Ramson proceeded to ask me, while
I was on the stand, whether I knew that Swamiji had changed his name, to which I
replied in the affirmative. He also commented on Swamiji’s saffron robes.
Aware that Swamiji’s name and robes are both requirements of his status as a
Hindu monk, I replied to Ramson’s questions, briefly, then appealed to the DFC
Chairman, Ian Chang, as to what this line of questioning had to do with the
matter at hand. Mr Ramson, was just then starting to make a comment about PPP
parliamentarian Pandit Reepu Daman Persaud, attempting, I believe, a comparison
between the Swami and the Pandit.
However, Mr Chang, at this point, leaned over and whispered in Mr Ramson’s ear
and this brought the line of questioning to a halt. I thought Mr Chang was lax
in his duties as the DFC Chairman to allow this line of questioning. Mr Ramson
was, of course, totally out of order to ask them since neither the questions nor
answers could possibly have anything to do with the DFC’s enquiry. It is well
known that the PPP and its government regard Swami Aksharananda as an enemy
because of his forthright and principled stand on national issues. However, if
commissioners are to be allowed to use the DFC as a platform to pursue personal
vendettas on behalf of their party, this would bring the entire enquiry into
disrepute.
Yours faithfully,
Ryhaan Shah
President, Guyana Indian Heritage AssociationÂ
Some of Ms. Shah’s evidence did not relate to relevant issues
Author:
Charles Ramson, PPP Commissioner on DFC
SN: Stabroek News 9/28/03
Dear
Editor,
I refer to
the letter by Ms.Ryhaan Shah captioned “Mr. Ramson asked me some irrelevant
questions” (24.9.03). Ms Shah sought, in her presentation to the commission,
to berate the government and, in particular, the PPP, and thereby neglected to
focus on the real issues the commission is mandated to investigate. I merely
sought to identify for the record the four contributors to the document
submitted by Ms. Shah, all of whom are known to be associated with ROAR. Any
Indian, perceived by persons of her proclaimed righteousness, who seeks to
distance himself from her rabid racism, is identified for public odium and
opprobrium, a la Sarwan. I am not Ronnie and hence my response.
History is not to be made subjective and, as Attorney-General and Cabinet
Minister, I sought to promote national unity but argued against national
integration, and as a Commissioner appointed by His Excellency, I propose to pay
full regard to all testimony, untainted by personal grievances, idiosyncratic
biases and, as the Jamaican will say, foolishness.
Yours faithfully,
Charles (Bonnie) Ramson S.C Commissioner (DFC)
GIHA was asked to give evidence to support its submission
Author:
Rahyaan Shaw, President GIHA
Source: Stabroek News 9/30/03
Dear
Editor,
In response to the letter from Charles Ramson, a PPP Commissioner on the
Disciplined Forces Commission (DFC), published in Sunday Stabroek, September 28,
2003, GIHA wishes to state that we are assured that the DFC summoned GIHA to
give evidence because our submission was very relevant to the enquiry.
GIHA submitted its Crime Report along with a letter to the DFC that, together,
dealt with Guyana’s ethnic violence, the disciplined forces’ perceived
corruption and their ineffectiveness in dealing with crime, the PPP
Government’s denial of the recent crisis, and the ethnic imbalance in the
disciplined forces, among other issues.
Even as PPP Commissioner Ramson now states publicly that some of these issues
are irrelevant to the DFC enquiry, GIHA remains sure of the integrity of the
other commissioners and know that, as a body, they will rise above the
prejudices of any single one of their members when making their final
recommendations.
Irrelevancies in GIHA’s testimony arose only because of questions posed by
Ramson about Swami Aksharananda’s robes and title. It is the only time in
two-and-a-half hours of testimony that I had to appeal to the Commission
Chairman for the line of questioning to be brought back to relevant issues. The
Chairman then stopped Ramson’s questions because of their irrelevance.
Identifying Swamiji’s name for the record, as Ramson now claims he was doing,
cannot possibly lead into questions about Swamiji’s saffron robes and his
title as a Hindu monk.
And Ramson did not proceed to identify for the record any of the other
contributors to the GIHA Crime Report: ROAR Leader Ravi Dev, Dr Ramesh Gampat
and Dr Somdat Mahabir. And what is the relevance of such identification, anyway?
And if everyone chooses to be associated with ROAR, what of it? Ramson, on the
other hand, is fully associated with a Government that has failed the nation so
badly that the DFC had to be commissioned to correct, at least, one section of
the corruption, unprofessionalism and inefficiency that prevails.
Despite Ramson’s puerile and flailing efforts to defend his indefensible
remarks about Swamiji - and made in true, cowardly PPP fashion when Swamiji was
not there to answer for himself - GIHA continues to expect positive outcomes
from the DFC with regard to the restructuring of Guyana’s disciplined forces.
Very soon the PPP will be crowing once again about “bringing back” democracy
to Guyana. Ramson’s statements show how much this party of committed
Communists is discomfited by the very fundamentals of democracy.
With regard to the more comic turns of phrase made by Ramson - “silken
sultanas”, etc. - we will leave them alone so as to preserve whatever shred of
dignity this former Attorney General still retains.
Yours faithfully,
Ryhaan Shah
President
Guyana Indian Heritage Association
Mr. Ramson’s remarks show a lack of awareness of Hindu culture
Author:
Omesh Sharma, President Hindu Sewa Sangh, Canada
Source: Stabroek News, 9/29/03
Dear
Editor,
Ryhaan Shah’s account of certain irrelevant questions asked of her by Charles
Ramson, a PPP appointed Commissioner on the Disciplined Forces Commis-sion (S/N
September 24, 2003) has been widely distributed and has disturbed many Hindus in
and around Toronto, Canada.
Many of us knew Swamiji in his younger days when he was known as Odaipaul Singh
who was born at Cornelia Ida West Coast of Demerara. He was a teacher then went
to India in 1971 for further studies and completed a Master’s Degree at
Banaras Hindu University. He lived in the USA between 1982 and 1993 when he
obtained his PhD. in Hindu Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In
the same year he went to Rishikesh where at the Kailash Ashram he took his vows
as a sanyasi (Swami) and was given the name Aksharananda.
We in Toronto consistently supported his leadership role in establishing the
only secondary Hindu school in Guyana and consider him to be one of the most
knowledgeable and courageous Hindus in the country. His services are also in
demand in Trinidad, Suriname, North America and India. All of the above is
public knowledge. In addition Swamiji has a television show every two weeks when
many questions are asked and answered on Hinduism. Ram Sahadeo, our part-time
lawyer and full time Hindu, has appeared as a guest on several of these programs
and can attest to the fact that the phone lines are open to any member of the
public.
It is therefore a puzzle to us why Ryhaan Shah would be asked irrelevant
questions about Swami’s change of name, or have to listen to comments made
about his saffron robes.
Our greater concern however is that Mr. Charles Ramson and any other Member of
Parliament of any political party ought to know the basics of Hindu religion and
be able to distinguish between a priest and a Swami. If not it is a shortcoming
of our educational system evidenced by the absence of Hindu culture and values
from the curriculum and the classroom.
Hindus have been in Guyana since May 5, 1838 and our guess would be that they
still represent about one third of the population, conversion notwithstanding.
If therefore politicians want to represent the people who put them in office
they must know something about the values and the way of life of those people.
In this respect the questions and comments of the PPP (the party whose
supporters are almost exclusively East Indians) representative on the Commission
shows a glaring need for cultural education. The establishment of one private
Hindu secondary school at Cornelia Ida cannot fill that gap. If any government
of Guyana, whatever political system may exist in future, is to adequately
represent the people of this multiracial, multicultural country, potential
leaders must now be sitting in classrooms where they learn about each other’s
culture and learn to respect this diversity.
Hindus in Guyana have never had a leader like Swamiji who speaks so fearlessly
about the problems affecting his community- religious conversions, teenage
suicide, illiteracy, and alcohol abuse. He does not whisper about these concerns
in the comfort of friendly surroundings and mandirs like many other timorous
souls, but screams about them in public. And then he takes action. He has lifted
the profile of Hindus to a new level and should he not be around to serve, it is
our children, our culture, our Guyana that would suffer.
In him we see the merging of Bhakti, Gyaan and Karma Yogi. Hindus at West
Demerara are still able to cremate their dead because of his battle to overturn
a court decision.
We will not sit by and watch others try to belittle him because as Hindus we
believe in the Bhagawat Gita- a call to duty and action.
The ongoing inquiry has attracted international attention and in the name of
those who were killed, kidnapped, robbed, sexually assaulted, or terrorised over
the last eighteen months, we hope that a more judicial atmosphere can prevail
and others will be willing to come forward and participate in the democratic
process.
Witness should not be harangued by irrelevant questions about others who are not
present to defend themselves. The issues of relevance and fairness should not be
difficult for those with much legal training and experience as those on the
Commission.
It is our hope that someone in authority comes forward with an explanation and
apology, if necessary, as many Hindus have expressed outrage at the questions
and comments about their spiritual leader who have friends all over the globe.
In closing we would like to thank the indomitable and indefatigable Ryhaan Shah
for making the public inquiry a little more public.
Yours faithfully,
Omesh Sharma
President,
Hindu Seva Sangh,
Ontario
Mr
Ramson’s letter suggests bias
Author: Balram
Samaroo
Source: Stabroek News, 10/01/03
Dear
Editor,
What a nasty letter by our ex-Attorney General, Mr. Charles Ramson captioned
“Some of Ms. Shah’s evidence did not relate to relevant issues”
(09/28/03). He claimed to “propose to pay full regard to all testimony,
untainted by personal grievances, idiosyncratic biases and, as the Jamaican will
say, foolishness” but his letter has displayed such a heavy taint of all the
aforementioned vices that I seriously doubt that he will consider, much less be
impartial, to Ms. Ryhaan Shah’s testimony. His crude ad hominem attack on Ms.
Shah, claiming that she practices “rabid racism”; disparagingly calling her
a “returnee”; dubbing her a “silken sultana” and an opportunist who is
misleading the “poorly educated and poor masses” and is massaging her ego,
is an unfortunate display of character unworthy of any person that holds public
office or who is currently in a highly sensitive and important position as a
commission- er to the Disciplined Forces Commission which is tasked to determine
the future of a vital institution of Guyana, crucial to the security of all the
ethnic groups in our society.
Furthermore, at no point did Mr. Ramson address Ms. Shah’s charge, which, for
a lawyer brings his professionalism into question, mainly that he had subjected
her to an irrelevant and immaterial line of questioning regarding Swami
Aksharananda’s robes and change of name, questioning that had to be brought to
a close upon her appeal to the DFC Chairman, Ian Chang. This lack of partiality
apparently is not limited to Ms. Shah, the president of GIHA. One could discern
a whiff of opprobrium of ROAR when he mentioned, “to identify for the record
the four contributors to the document submitted by Ms. Shah, all of whom are
known to be associated with ROAR.” One wonders why he has seen fit to subject
Ms. Shah to this unsavoury and intense questioning but was relatively silent,
according to all published reports, when Mr. Ravi Dev appeared before that body.
Also, I am surprised that
Stabroek News did not subject that letter to its purported high editorial
standards (for tone, tendentiousness, etc.).
Since impartiality in looking at all the evidence is paramount here, I submit
that Mr. Ramson is unfit to be part of this body and should submit his
resignation forthwith (or the government should intervene to effectuate this
immediately).
Yours faithfully,
Balram Samaroo
Editor’s note:
Part of Mr. Ramson’s letter was deleted.
Upset at Mr
Ramson’s attack on Swami Aksharananda
Author: Members of CaribbeanHindus.org & CaribbeanHindus@yahoogroups.com
Source: Stabroek News, 10/2/03
Dear Editor,
We wish to thank Ms Ryhaan Shah for her courageous letter captioned, “Mr.
Ramson asked me some irrelevant questions” (24/9/03) in which she shocked
Guyanese, Hindus in particular, about the unbecoming behavior of Mr. Charles
Ramson, a former Attorney General in the PPP government, who is also the PPP’s
Commissioner on the Disciplined Forces Commission (DFC).
Mr Ramson usurped a national platform to attack a Hindu Monk and a leading Hindu
scholar. This repugnant behavior by a senior government functionary and a member
of the DFC is shameful and cannot be tolerated. Mr Ramson’s silly references
to Pujya Swami Aksharananda’s robe and name are totally irrelevant to the
functioning of the DFC. While we know that many Hindus in Guyana have loyalty to
the PPP, we also know that these same Hindus will not tolerate such a bigoted
attack on Swami Aksharananda.
We, the members of CaibbeanHindu.org and CaribbeanHindus@yahoo groups.com, take
this opportunity to condemn the cowardly attack on Swami Aksharananda. We regret
that the integrity of the DFC has been compromised by the irrelevant,
character-smearing behavior of Mr Charles Ramson, and that Mr Ian Chang, the
Chairman of the DFC, permitted this national disgrace.
We call on all Hindus in Guyana, whatever their political affiliations are, to
join us in condemning this unwarranted, politically motivated, bigoted attack on
Pujya Swami Aksharananda. We further call on all our Hindu brothers and sisters
to condemn politicians who utilize state resources to attack Hindu leaders.
Finally, we call on all Hindu organisations in Guyana to take a stand against
this political vendetta directed against Hindu leaders of conscience. We pray to
Bhagavan to protect our courageous Hindu leaders.
Yours faithfully,
On behalf of CaribbeanHindu.org and CaribbeanHindus@yahoogroups.com:
Dr. Ramesh Gampat, Dr. Roop Misir, Ram Budhu, Dr. Somdat Mahabir, Sonah Nagassar
and 88 other members