00:00Head of the Satya Anand Ashram, Pundit Satya Anand Maharaj, tells the Morning Edition that for most citizens, race is
00:09not the defining issue.
00:11He says people simply want to work, provide for their families and live peacefully alongside each other.
00:18However, Maharaj argues that the country's racial tensions are being fuelled by those with political interests.
00:26Well, certainly the people who are using race as an issue to pursue their own nefarious ends,
00:39ever so often, and every time we have a non-PNM government, this tends to erupt,
00:47where race is used as the weapon of choice to bring down whoever is there.
00:57Pundit Maharaj believes resistance in certain quarters stems from efforts to challenge long-standing advantages,
01:06arguing that the government is working to create a more level playing field for all citizens.
01:11What has been happening recently is cause for concern, no matter how small the group might be.
01:17You see, in Trinidad and Tobago, when people are accustomed to getting all of the pie,
01:24when it's time to share it, they think that they are getting less.
01:30And if, to pick up on these, there is a group that thinks that they are not getting enough,
01:37I think when they are getting all, they are not really concerned about who else is not getting.
01:42And at the risk of just speaking very vaguely, because nobody wants to bell the cat, so to speak.
01:49Pundit Maharaj says a race relations committee should be established and scientific data gathered.
01:56And a former independent senator and Seventh-day Adventist pastor, Clive Dutton, also wants a committee formed.
02:04So the issue of race and religion and class, you know, has to be properly managed.
02:11And I agree with the pundit.
02:12I would support the idea of a race relations committee commission as soon as possible.
02:18And, of course, the representation, the representation on that committee would be critical.
02:28Pastor Dutton warns that tensions appear to be escalating and believes politics has become the main force driving those divisions.
02:37There's the charge that a certain group is being deliberately alienated and disenfranchised.
02:46I don't know what the research is showing, but clearly, I feel a growing tension now that is being fuelled,
02:57I would say politically too.
02:59All right, because the leaders have the mic.
03:01The leaders get on the media more than anybody else.
03:04But I believe that the politics drives the division more than anything else.
03:12Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
04:14You
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