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Speaker:The Honourable Basdeo Panday, Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
Date: April 15, 2000
Occasion: Address at the official launch of the World Hindu Conference at St. Augustine, Trinidad.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
My Dear Brothers and Sisters:
Namaste.
Had it been solely for the will of man, I would have been in Cuba at this very moment. But man proposes, God disposes.
I am happy, truly happy, to be here with you this evening.
I wanted very much to take part in this Launching of World Hindu Conference 2000.
So contrary to all plans less than 24 hours ago, I was mid-air between Havana and Caracas.
I was on my way to Venezuela to make a midnight connection to Trinidad last night.
I arrived at Piarco International in the early hours of this morning, and in time for this function.
I was not going to miss being with you for anything.
I am thankful that I have been brought safely back to you.
As you know, I had flown to Cuba on Tuesday for the South Summit.
Well over 100 countries were represented at the Summit, more that half of them by Heads of Government.
While in Cuba, I had the opportunity of meeting with Leaders from around the world.
You will be pleased to know that Trinidad and Tobago�s flag is flying high in world opinion.
Your country and your Government are uniformly held in high regard in the international community.
We are admired and envied for our economic performance and for the harmony which we enjoy in our renowned diversity.
Trinidad and Tobago is widely seen as a model for the management of diversity through a committed policy of inclusion.
Inclusion, as you know, is my essential policy in politics, and in governance.
My Brothers and Sisters:
The practice of inclusion is a recurring theme in any external discussion about Trinidad and Tobago.
It is a contradiction that here, in our country, there is such an obsession with exclusion, when in principle and in practice, our society functions and remains intact because we successfully manage diversity, and we have so manifestly implemented the policy of inclusion.
In a sense, the policy of inclusion is now the critical issue, globally. The most critical issue facing the world today is the management of diversity. Wherever you look in the world, today, be it Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe the bloody internecine conflict has one single cause the failure or the inability to manage diversity, whether that diversity, stems from differences in race, ethnicity, tribal affiliation, religion, culture or region.
Hinduism can provide a basic for world tolerance, acceptance, appreciation of one another and peace.
It is said in the Srimiad Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 4 verses 7&8 where Lord Krishna is speaking to Arjuna says: Yada Yada hi dharmasya ... etc.
This is the basis of our belief in the avataric succession : If we genuinely and truly believe this then how can Hindus not accept Christ, Mohammad, Swami Dayanand Saraswah Saint Kaabir and other manifestation of God in whatever form God chooses to manifest himself/herself.
This single verse is the basis for inclusion and international peace. Without peace no country can prosper. No society embroiled in conflict can improve its economic, social or cultural well-being, since wars and conflicts dissipates both physical and human resources, matural and spiritual.
The matter of inclusion is as relevant in India and in the Indian Diaspora as it is in Trinidad and Tobago, and elsewhere in the Caribbean.
The immediate relevance of my theme of inclusion is underlined this evening by the presence here of more than 50 separate Hindu Organizations.
To have mobilised all of these groups for this event is an impressive demonstration of the effectiveness and the leadership provided by Shri Ravi Ji and the members of the organizing committee of World Hindu Conference 2000.
The staging of the World Hindu Conference in this country defines Trinidad and Tobago as a nation of considerable significance not only to the Hindu Diaspora, but also to the World community.
Increasingly, our country is being acknowledged as a leader in the enlightened management of pluralism, as experts in the art of managaing diversity by the practice of inclusion.
Last year, the World Orisha Congress was held in Trinidad and Tobago.
A congress of "The First Nations" of the World is planned for Trinidad and Tobago for August.
The First Nations embrace indigenous peoples in various countries of the world who have been displaced by immigrants.
First Nations includes the Caribs in Trinidad and elsewhere in the Caribbean, the Amerindians of South America, the Native Americans Indians of the United States and Canada, as well the Aborigines of Australia, and many other peoples, in other countries.
There is a particular obligation on every ethnic and religious group in every plural society not only to share the same space, but to share philosophies with the wider community.
That is essential if diverse groups are to get along with each other.
My Brothers and Sisters:
World Hindu Conference 2000 will bring to Trinidad and Tobago and to the region, a heightened awareness of the role and influence of Hinduism on world thought and culture.
Hindu culture has a strong global influence, and indeed a significant local presence.
The theme of World Hindu Conference 2000 is quite timely:
"Self Emancipation and World Welfare."
This links you, the individual, with the Universe. How better to link than to accept all as equal in the eyes of God.
This theme is intended to elicit special efforts from and impose particular obligations on every one of us.
A person consists of his faith, we are told.
Whatever is his faith, even so is he.
As we prepare for World Hindu Conference 2000, we must reflect on the sacred tenets of our faith.
From intense thinking must come being.
Religion is a way of walking, not just a way of talking. We must not only talk the talk, we must walk the walk.
My Brothers and Sisters:
There is a sense to some, that the Hindu Motherland, India, may have, at times, abandoned her children, who nonetheless, remain fiercely loyal to her.
The late Prime Minister of India, Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, told Hindus in Africa and Guyana that they ought not to continue to look to India for sustenance.
Another former Prime Minister of India, Morarji Desai, told Indo Trinidadians essentially the same thing.
On a visit to Trinidad before becoming Prime Minister, the then Minister Desai told an audience at the West India Club that in the way that a girl child after marriage should give her love and loyalty to her new family, so too should the descendants of Indian ancestry give their greatest love and loyalty to their homelands outside of India.
But My Brothers and Sisters: all that is gradually changing.
There appears to be a fresh new wind of Hinduism blowing across the Universe, with the children of the Diaspora sharply in focus.
Now, there is a growing unity among the Hindus of the world, wherever they may be in the Hindu Universe.
From the 17th to the 20th of August of this year 2000, Trinidad and Tobago will be at the centre of that universe.
We will be host to a galaxy of Hindu thinkers, scholars and Holy men.
Our local Hindu leaders, including all who are present this evening, will add radiance to that galaxy.
World Hindu Conference 2000 will explore contemporary global issues with a view to defining the challenges ahead and developing strategies for success.
The outcome to these activities is a self reliant, self sufficient, self emancipated Diaspora which possess the capacity to contribute significantly to the countries in which they live, and to the welfare of the world.
Today, India has no option but to take pride in her children who are scattered all over the world.
My Brothers and Sisters:
A discourse on Hinduism, such as the World conference will undertake, will by definition, include an examination of India�s influence on world thought and culture.
It is held that the major catalyst to the expansion of that influence beyond the boundaries of India to the West was Swami Vivekananda.
Rabinranath Tagore has said that if you want to understand India, you must study Vivekananda.
Let me remind you of what Swami Vivekandanda wrote in 1894.
I quote:
"I am thoroughly convinced that no individual or nation can live by holding itself apart from the community of others, and whenever such an attempt has been made under false ideas of greatness, policy, or holiness, the result has always been disastrous to the secluding one."
The Swami�s impact on the way India related to the world, and the way India was perceived by the world is significant.
He encouraged India to go forth to the world with thought, with ideals, with spiritualism, with Hinduism.
Today the Hindu Diaspora is estimated at a mere 30 million of the close to 1 Billion belonging to the Hindu faith.
These Hindus are to be found in North America, Europe, Africa and Australia, and elsewhere of course in the Caribbean, notably in Guyana and in Trinidad and Tobago.
The Conference will examine such issues as Globalization, Sustainable Development, the Environment and Information Technology, matters that have a permanent priority on my own agenda as Prime Minister.
My Brothers and Sisters:
I am particularly pleased that Shri Ravi Ji and the members of the organizing committee for Hindu World Conference 2000, have addressed Technology on the Conference programme.
Evidently they agree with Albert Einstein that Science without Religion is Lame, and that Religion without Science is Blind.
It is evident that there is no blindness among you.
We can all take early pride in winning Hindu World Conference 2000 for Trinidad and Tobago.
We should also take pride in the unparalleled demonstration of Hindu solidarity that is in evidence today. When your own house is united and strong, it is only than that you can help others.
Let us work together to convince the world that here in Trinidad and Tobago, Hinduism is flowering in all its glorious dimensions, and that we are making a decisive difference in our country, that is to the good of all.
My Brothers and Sisters:
Let us embrace the world, even as we strengthen our faith.
And let us recall the words of Swami Vivekananda, written over a century ago, that to hold ourselves apart from the world will bring no benefit.
To do this makes the Universe less than it can be.
In doing this, we also to make ourselves poorer, much poorer, than we need be, or that we were meant to be. The Africans have a saying, I consist of one word : Maskhane : Let us build one another together.
Thank you, my Brothers and Sisters.
And may Bhagwan Bless you all.