GHK Lall- It was Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo at his best. Mellowness amid a moment of mourning. A figure and contributor at his most solemn in an hour of reflection to honor the passing of Robert H. O. Corbin, Esq, MP, Deputy Prime Minister, and Opposition Leader. Let there be no mistake: it was Dr. Jagdeo in the flesh, and coming to a place that has long been part of the quest of many Guyanese patriots.
“We believe that the future of Guyana would involve at some level and some fashion, whatever that framework may be, these parties working together. They have to, of necessity. That’s when this country can accomplish all the dreams of those who had to flee this country and seek a better fortune elsewhere and the dreams of those who are living here now. That’s how we’d achieve it.”
What to make of that shocker that has inclusion stamped all over it? I could never find fault with any Guyanese who speaks of what could unify, what may just ease the bitterness of three score and fifteen years of angry, insoluble division. When Bharrat Jagdeo finally comes around to this what he called enlightened place, it was worth the wait. It is worth all his curses and insults, his tantrums and throwdowns on Thursdays, and all those other days of the week spanning several years.
Listen some more to him: “Trust me, the country needs now a new form of enlightened thinking. And a new approach to solving issues.” Since this former president can be mellow, so can I. What’s the use of reminding him, or any Guyanese, that other Guyanese have been about that enlightened thinking since around the beginning of this millennium, if not before? What’s the point of dredging up, adversarial visions of taking away the PPP plums, diluting its victories, and doing so via the backdoor?
The fact that Dr. Jagdeo chose the opportunity of a tribute to the departed Robert Corbin to say what he said gives even more resonance to what is now before Guyanese to dissect and interpret. I have always believed that Bharrat Jagdeo and Robert Corbin knew how to do business together, at least they had some form of understanding on how to coexist, without the country becoming unglued. It shows in that tribute. What could be more fitting to the Jagdeo-Corbin Manifesto?
As an aside, the spirit of a truly great Guyanese left these shores to rejoin his ancestors after a century of years, plus one. Interestingly, not a word, not a pause, not even a nod of awareness from Excellencies Ali or Jagdeo, or any of that assembly of PPP dignitaries. It was not Babu John and PPP Founder Cheddi.
It was Lilendaal and Robert, PNC leader. It is inspiring, though, that whatever he stood for, through thunder and lightning, there was Dr. Jagdeo at the Arthur Chung Convention Center standing at his fullest height and deluging his audience with the unexpected. Please do not spoil the moment by let deluging be mistaken for deluding.
Separately, I have heard it said that General Secretary Jagdeo is seeking partnership with the PNC to vanquish the formidable electoral threat posed by Mr. Azruddin Mohamed’s WIN. Drive a wedge, pickup a pledge. It’s the fine art of politics. The vice president may have learned that from his years in the local political trenches.
Then again, there were those years that he spent at Patrice Lumumba U in the vicinity of the snowy Steppes. There are always thinking guerilla fighters and stealth operators on that campus. Outflank a serious menace. Better to link arms with the devil that’s known that deal with the dangers of the blue sea (take that literally) that could swamp.
What a pitch and what a pitchman! What timing and what skillful probing for an opening! For its part, the PNC has been steely in its resolve: Mohamed and WIN are on their own. It is less of the humiliation of a pathetic showing and loss. It is more of what could have been unfolding behind the scenes, with the power of the PPP General Secretary at work. Studying the new lay of the territory.
Already calculating the odds. Weighing the alternatives. And now, presenting his almost perfect blueprint for Guyana. There is money. There is a set of hungry people. Therein lies opportunity. As president, as Opp Leader, as vice president, and as party general secretary, Mr. (later Dr.)
Jagdeo has never sniffed out a situation that he has not used wiles and guiles to overcome. PPP succession and Nandlall. Parliamentary no-confidence motion. PNC diminishment and Granger. And, now the Blue people and their leader that is under tight, suffocating, control. Once again, like him or lash at him, Bharrat Jagdeo has proved himself Guyana, perhaps the region’s, political mastermind.
(In Part II -an analysis of his actual words, as quoted above, compliments of Demerara Waves).
