By Sue-Ann Wayow
FORMER government minister Vasant Bharath is instigating an attack on the women of the United National Congress (UNC) and any such attacks will not tolerated.
On Tuesday, the party’s Women’s Arm defended their leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar stating that Bharath “clearly obsessed by hatred towards the Leader of the Opposition, sought to justify the verbal and physical attack on UNC women by a group of abusive men.”
On Sunday, two groups of UNC supporters clashed with each other while protesting for other causes, the UNC Women’s Arm and ex-Caroni workers.
Bharath, Persad-Bissessar’s former political opponent in the party’s internal election, posted on social media, statements in defence of the ex-Caroni workers.
He posted, “In her (Kamla) desperation, she has now resorted to abusing fellow UNC activists by calling them ‘hooligans, stalkers, lochos and lowlifes’ … simply because they were engaged in peaceful protest for their Caroni lands.”
During the UNC’s Monday Night Forum, Persad-Bissessar said the Women’s Arm was being stalked and attacked by hideous and abusive men, a behaviour which she described as “despicable and disturbing.”
She also claimed that the men were sent by persons whom the membership had rejected.
Persad-Bissessar said, “I mean it was the most distressing but I think despicable act to see — very worrying, very concerning that everywhere the UNC Women’s arm marches, they are being stalked. And by whom?
There are some men out there stalking our women and they are doing so violently as well —that is what we saw happening yesterday.
In a nation where women are attacked and killed every single day, these hideous horrid abusive men are coming to verbally abuse and physically attack the women of the UNC.”
The Women’s Arm stated, “From the many video clips of the event, it can clearly be seen that the UNC women at the march were stalked and ambushed verbally and physically. Yet Vasant Bharath chooses to ignore the evidence and deems the violence committed by these abusive men as ‘peaceful protest’. What kind of a demented and disturbed man would seek to excuse verbal and physical violence committed against women?
“Mr Bharath frequently uses obscene language and verbally abuses persons who disagree with him on his social media page. We have always ignored him but in this instance, we cannot ignore his defence of these abusers.”
In speaking about their leader, the Women’s Arm stated that Persad-Bissessar has stood in defence of young girls and women in the country for her entire adult life opposing and fighting against the oppression of girls and women through the caste and class systems.
“The members of the UNC women’s arm wish to make it clear that we will not tolerate any abuse. If Mr Bharath chooses to live within the archaic systems of class and caste, which oppressed women, then that is his personal choice.
“His defence of these hooligans, stalkers and abusers show he is unfit to hold any public office. If it was his female relatives on the receiving end of the verbal and physical assault, he may have seen these abusers in a different light.”
‘Kamla unstable and bipolar’
Bharath in a Facebook post defended himself saying the political leader continues to disrespect the party’s base.
He wrote, “This lady is clearly unstable and possibly bipolar, having called for unity only last week. She is now boasting of having cleansed the party of caste and class. These continued unwarranted, obsessive and baseless attacks on me shows a heightened level of desperation that she has lost her grip on the party and on reality.
“She continues to disrespect the base of the party by believing that they are uneducated and naive enough to accept her blatant lies and fabrications, taking them for granted by playing 1960’s politics with their children’s lives when these crisis times call for a level, sober head, providing hope, comfort and assurance to a seriously burdened people.”
‘Bharath was one of the most efficient ministers’
Instead of tackling all the ills of Trinidad and Tobago, Persad-Bissessar has instead chosen to waste time to attack Bharath, said another former minister under the Persad-Bissessar administration Devant Maharaj.
In a statement to the media he said, “Unable and incapable of dealing with the ruling PNM government in a sober and educated manner Kamla UNC preferred to turn inward to find an unsuspecting villain in Vasant Bharath to attack.”
Maharaj who is now in Alberta, Canada, said, “On reading media reports the Leader of the Opposition boasted of purging the party who supported nepotism, caste, class, family connections and dynastic politics implying of course that Vasant Bharath was guilty of using one of these. Without a shred of evidence Vasant Bharath was pilloried.”
He said, “Instead Vasant is remembered as one of the most effective and efficient ministers of the UNC government (2010-2015). Competency and intelligence in the UNC is much like COVID-19 to be quarantined and eliminated.”
Maharaj asked, “When will Kamla also purge the party of drunks and deadbeats, pimps and prostitutes, b****** and bandits?”
