Call­ing for a cel­e­bra­tion of the late Hin­du leader Sat­narayan Ma­haraj, High Court Judge Frank Seep­er­sad urged cit­i­zens to nev­er for­get the ster­ling con­tri­bu­tion Ma­haraj made to ed­u­ca­tion and in­de­pen­dence.

Speak­ing at the Susamachar Pres­by­ter­ian Church on Sun­day, Seep­er­sad said Ma­haraj's death was a stark re­minder that those who ush­ered T&T in­to a State of na­tion­hood and in­de­pen­dence were few and far be­tween.

"Mea­sured though he was not and con­tro­ver­sial he may have been to many peo­ple, his con­tri­bu­tions to so­ci­ety and ed­u­ca­tion and the op­por­tu­ni­ties pre­sent­ed to the Hin­du com­mu­ni­ty are sin­gu­lar and need to be cel­e­brat­ed," Ma­haraj said.

He added, "We ought not to for­get that 50 years ago, many of our fore­fa­thers and their chil­dren had lim­it­ed ed­u­ca­tion­al op­por­tu­ni­ties."

Seep­er­sad said it was the work of Ma­haraj and his pre­de­ces­sor Bhadase Sagan Ma­haraj that the Sanatan Dhar­ma Ma­ha Sab­ha set up dozens of pri­ma­ry schools and four Hin­du sec­ondary schools which con­tin­ue to ex­cel.

"It is of sig­nif­i­cant im­por­tance that we re­mem­ber that last two Pres­i­dent medal win­ners came from Lak­sh­mi Girls'," Seep­er­sad said.

He added that Ma­haraj's con­tri­bu­tion was not on­ly for the Hin­du com­mu­ni­ty.

"He was a vo­cal ad­vo­cate for change. His fierce be­lief was that T&T be a free and ec­u­meni­cal so­ci­ety. That was why he chal­lenged the name of T&T's high­est award and we had a mo­men­tous change from the Trin­i­ty Cross to the Or­der of T&T. His ex­am­ple of stead­fast lead­er­ship in spite of the con­tro­ver­sy that some of his state­ments gen­er­at­ed, stands as an ex­am­ple for us all," he added.

Seep­er­sad said it was time for T&T to trea­sure the few fore­fa­thers of In­de­pen­dence that were still present.

Mean­while, Cou­va North MP Ra­mona Ram­di­al said Ma­haraj was a leader, fight­er and pro­tec­tor of Sanatan Dhar­ma.

"I am a proud prod­uct of the Sanatan Dhar­ma Ma­ha Sab­ha ed­u­ca­tion sys­tem where I at­tend­ed the Lak­sh­mi Girls' Hin­du Col­lege and lat­er on served as a teacher for six years at the Vish­nu Boys' Hin­du Col­lege. For me, Sat Ma­haraj cham­pi­oned ed­u­ca­tion for the Hin­du girl. He em­pow­ered the Hin­du girl through ed­u­ca­tion, from the pre-school to high school lev­els, en­sur­ing a place in so­ci­ety for the strong Hin­du woman," she added.

She said Ma­haraj was proud that Lak­sh­mi Girls' Hin­du Col­lege won the Pres­i­dent's Medal four times in a row.

"He mould­ed and guid­ed it in­to one of the pre­mier sec­ondary girls' schools in T&T. The Ma­ha Sab­ha schools are utilised as a train­ing ground not on­ly for aca­d­e­mics but to pro­mote In­di­an cul­ture to en­sure a per­ma­nent place in our Trin­ba­go di­as­po­ra. I am sure the Ma­ha Sab­ha fam­i­ly will con­tin­ue its good work not on­ly for Hin­dus but for all the peo­ple of  T&T," she said.

Ma­haraj's fu­ner­al will take place on Tues­day.