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Laventille West MP Fitzgerald Hinds says there is nothing offensive about a presentation at last Sunday’s PNM’s Sports and Family Day which portrayed a woman wearing yellow sari being stripped of the East Indian wear.
Hinds was unapologetic to the members of the Hindu community who felt offended by the portrayal, saying that it simply depicted the woman “turning PNM.”
Speaking by telephone on CNC3’s The Morning Brew yesterday, Hinds accused some of those who have voiced their discontent of the presentation, including a pundit, of trying to politicise the skit put on by one constituency.
“We consider what was done here to be absolutely non-offensive. As far as I see, the lady was dressed in yellow and that yellow was taken off and she turned red. In other words, she turned PNM and that how I saw it, so I am quite shocked.”
He continued, “We find nothing absolutely offensive about it and this political spin, trying to create disharmony in the country and turn the balance that is so well maintained for the years of our independence, we need to tell a pundit like that, stop creating problems where none exist, conduct your affairs in a dignified manner. If you want to do anything, he should spend more time teaching us about the Mahabharat.”
Hinds said that he was quite surprised at the reaction to the presentation, saying that it was a wonderful example of “exaggeration and hyperbole.” He likened the presentation to street theatre that occurred during Carnival. Supporting his claim that the presentation was not aimed at offending the Hindu community, he said the general secretary of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha Satnaryan Maharaj did not see it as offensive.