DIX­IE-ANN DICK­SON

Sec­re­tary gen­er­al of the Sanatan Dhar­ma Ma­ha Sab­ha Sat­narayan Ma­haraj says the In­di­an com­mu­ni­ty re­jects Louis Lee Sing's call for Com­pul­so­ry Na­tion­al Ser­vice. Ma­haraj made the com­ment yes­ter­day dur­ing his con­tri­bu­tion at the one-day sym­po­sium ti­tled 'A case for the com­pul­so­ry na­tion­al ser­vice' host­ed by Citadel Ltd. The sym­po­sium was held at City Hall in Port-of-Spain.

Ma­haraj said, "The In­di­an com­mu­ni­ty re­jects out­right any sug­ges­tion that com­pul­so­ry na­tion­al ser­vice is an op­tion for our na­tion. "When the NAR min­is­ter Lin­coln May­ers float­ed this mis­guid­ed fas­cist idea some years ago, the Ma­ha Sab­ha mo­bilised the In­di­an com­mu­ni­ty in op­po­si­tion," he said. "We stand ready to do the same if con­front­ed once again with sim­i­lar de­signs," he added. He not­ed that the Ma­ha Sab­ha had al­ready im­ple­ment­ed 'Na­tion­al' Ser­vice in its schools and mandirs which was en­tire­ly vol­un­tary in na­ture.

Ma­haraj claimed the mo­ti­va­tion be­hind the dri­ve for this new com­pul­so­ry na­tion­al ser­vice was hinged on the in­abil­i­ty of the present gov­ern­ment to prop­er­ly treat with the is­sue of crime. He said, "Now 'Na­tion­al' Ser­vice was be­ing tout­ed as the panacea of the crime prob­lem." He added the premise of this ar­gu­ment, which is to trans­form de­viant mem­bers of so­ci­ety by this ini­tia­tive, was fun­da­men­tal­ly flawed, but should al­so seek to af­fect 100 per cent of the so­ci­ety. Ma­haraj fur­ther crit­i­cised the ini­tia­tive stat­ing that there had been no sup­port from the greater na­tion­al com­mu­ni­ty or any dis­cus­sions by the gov­ern­ment and the op­po­si­tion. He said the In­di­an com­mu­ni­ty nev­er re­lied on the State for hand­outs.