SHAR­LENE RAM­PER­SAD

De­scrib­ing Guardian Me­dia Lim­it­ed (GML’s) Di­vali Naya Jy­oti fes­ti­val as one that pro­motes in­clu­sion in T&T, Op­po­si­tion leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar says a new light is what the coun­try needs to move for­ward at this time.

Per­sad-Bisses­sar was ad­dress­ing at­ten­dees at the open­ing night of GML’s Naya Jy­oti or new light fes­ti­val on Thurs­day at the C3 Shop­ping Com­plex in San Fer­nan­do. The fes­ti­val ends this evening.

GML’s man­ag­ing di­rec­tor Nicholas Sab­ga and In­di­an High Com­mis­sion­er Bish­wapdip Dey were among at­ten­dees.

“Naya Jy­oti rep­re­sents a re­birth, and a recom­mit­ment by each of us to do what is need­ed so that our na­tion can move for­ward, this Naya Jy­oti or new light must be the guid­ing light that dis­pels the de­spair, the hope­less­ness and the dark­ness felt by so many peo­ple,” Per­sad-Bisses­sar said.

She said over the last week, al­though there were wide­spread flood­ing and de­struc­tion in many parts of the coun­try, she al­so saw the best of the peo­ple of T&T.

“I have seen a show of hu­man­i­ty over the past week where­in the worst of times I have seen the best of all our peo­ple. Tonight, as we cel­e­brate Naya Jy­oti, the new light, I am hope­ful that this spir­i­tu­al con­scious­ness can heal old wounds, can bridge di­vides, can cre­ate a path­way to en­sur­ing that uni­ty is achieved to take our great na­tion for­ward.”

She said in the face of the heart­break and de­spair faced by many flood vic­tims, there has been an out­pour­ing of love.

“My heart bleeds for those fam­i­lies who have lost all their pos­ses­sions, and some even lost their homes. But, I have seen al­so the spir­it of our peo­ple. I have seen their gen­eros­i­ty, I have seen their de­ter­mi­na­tion and I have seen their love for their fel­low coun­try­men in their time of need. Let us keep this spir­it up and build on it. There is a great need for us to come to­geth­er, to work to­geth­er and to put our dif­fer­ences aside for the greater good.”

She said when many com­mu­ni­ties were un­der flood­wa­ters, the crit­i­cal role of the me­dia was high­light­ed.

“The crit­i­cal role of the me­dia was high­light­ed dur­ing this dis­as­ter, dur­ing this dis­as­ter, as your jour­nal­ists re­port­ing live from the field gave us a bet­ter sense of the re­al­i­ty of the sit­u­a­tion, and I dare­say gave first re­spon­ders re­al-time in­for­ma­tion on emer­gency cas­es, where peo­ple need­ed to be res­cued.”

See Page A16