A load of bull: Moonilal beats Warner to the low ground

Housing Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal demonstrated his earthiness and grasp of the issues relevant to Chaguanas West voters yesterday by suggesting that former MP Jack Warner wants constituents to give up their Range Rovers and return to “bull-carts.”

“I driving the same vehicle for two years, a Rover SUV and is only when the campaign start and Jack Warner start campaigning they start attacking me for the vehicle,” said Moonilal, in today’s Trinidad Express. “… I must still be on the bull-cart… What he is saying now in 2013 is put you back on that bison.

“They want you back there and want to use different strategies.”

Mr Live Wire is uncertain whether Moonilal’s statement suggested he was so self-absorbed that he forgot he was in the midst of a campaign, which was ostensibly about the needs of others and not his own luxury. Or if he was attempting to appeal to the Chaguanas West voters who own Range Rovers and are petrified of bisons.

Photo: His other ride is a Range Rover. But Warner won't let him drive it in peace.
Photo: His other ride is a Range Rover. But Warner won’t let him drive it in peace.

The self-declared man of the people did not say whether he stopped using his Range Rover because Chaguanas West voters recognised it and started begging him for a short drop.

Moonilal, who is also the UNC deputy political leader, further revealed that Warner was happily accepting “malas” (garlands) from his supporters but had not applied for houses for anyone named Mala.

“They put about 20 mala on him, you couldn’t see his face,” said Moonilal, who is also the Housing Minister. “But when I look through the list of people recommended (in Chaguanas West) for housing I didn’t see anybody named Mala, you know.”

On the face of it, being named ‘Mala’ seems like an odd plus to have on an application for a Government house. Or was ‘Mala’ code for a specific type of person? And were there only ‘Malas’ residing in Chaguanas West?

Should all future applicants to HDC write “Mala: wink wink” on their forms? And what did ‘non-Malas’ deserve from the Government exactly?

Photo: Hindu brothers no more? Roodal Moonilal has accused Jack Warner of getting houses for 'non-Malas.'
Photo: Hindu brothers no more? Roodal Moonilal has accused Jack Warner of getting houses for ‘non-Malas.’

But Moonilal, who spoke after attending service at the Devi Temple on Maha Sabha secretary general Sat Maharaj’s invitation, was only focused on the constituency’s Range Rover-aspiring ‘Malas’ on Sunday.

He had news too of “an undercurrent of an attack on the Hindu community”, which the discerning but mostly divisive and slightly deranged mind would have cleared spotted in allegations of corruption thrown at the feet of ministers Suruj Rambachan and Chandresh Sharma.

“We will not see it at first sight,” said Moonilal, “… You don’t see the undercurrent so sometimes you can participate in your own denigration without knowing. It is not coincidental that there is an attack on the (children of Dr Suruj Rambachan and Chandresh Sharma)—a Hindu child.

“What they are trying to develop is the idea that if your children are successful they thief to get there… It is a way to demonise your community.”

But why would Warner, who is as devout a Hindu as he is a God-fearing Christian, disciple of Allah and, last but not least, firm believer in other people’s money, attack one of his own religions?

Or was Moonilal, so soon after saying prayers with Maharaj, questioning Warner’s Hindu credentials? Had Warner resigned his post as auxiliary Hindu too? Is that one of the secrets that the Prime Minister is holding on to with the silent complicity of the Maha Sabha’s general secretary?

Photo: Housing Minister Roodal Moonilal (far left) and Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar (far right) at a Hindu temple. Presumably, there were no 'Malas' there.
Photo: Housing Minister Roodal Moonilal (far left) and Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar (far right) at a Hindu temple.
Presumably, there were no ‘Malas’ there.

Or did Warner not have enough ‘Mala’ in him to have been considered a Hindu in the first place? And, if so, where does that leave UNC candidate Khadijah Ameen?

Was she another pretend ‘Mala’ that would only receive Maharaj’s good grace once the likes of Persad-Bissessar and Moonilal allow it?

“The people of Chaguanas West have always voted for everyone we have ever selected,” said Moonilal. “Today (Warner) is saying forget that history, forget your values and vote for (him) because I did give yuh a few box drains.”

Was Moonilal’s reminder that Chaguanas West always did as it was told meant as a compliment, particularly since it left voters so well off that they could feasibly be bought by box drains and were apparently one step away from returning to bull-carts?

And, most importantly, what did Ameen think of all this campaign help she was receiving from Moonilal?

Live Wire cannot confirm that Ameen has asked Ashworth Jack to keep the spare room vacant in his pumpkin and cucumber mansion, just in case. And that Moonilal might be the first politician in history to make Warner seem ethically superior.

Photo: Ex-FIFA vice-president Jack Warner delivers bottled water to Haiti. The Haitian football president said he wasn't as generous with their money, though.
Photo: Ex-FIFA vice-president Jack Warner delivers bottled water to Haiti.
The Haitian football president said he wasn’t as generous with their money, though.

If being the least moral person with access to the local media was Warner’s trump card, then he needs to act fast. Live Wire suggests a quick fundraiser for Haiti could do wonders for regaining the low ground.

But if the disgraced football official would settle for being the second-most despicable choice available to Chaguanas West, he only needs to get Moonilal more interviews.

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6 comments

  1. He looked and did not see any malas….Is this what moonilal looks for on an application..i swore it was income, size of family ect…and any person in trinidad who knows about Jack Warner can safely say he is as hindu as a hindu…Everytime Jack is interviewed, he always says he has a puja to attend ! I was wondering how long it would have taken these politicians to draw out the “we” card…But lastly to the ppl of chag west…what exactly are voting for…Nothing has been said about developmental plans for chag, its only who thief, who stole, who have worms…

    • And noone would dare accuse Jack Warner of dishonesty! (Well, except for a few dozen judges and arbitrators, a couple hundred footballers and a few million Haitians… But who’s counting!)

  2. Boy, LiveWire you are on the ball! It is rather sad that these ‘educated’ people seem to make statements bereft of logic, decency and common sense. I cannot understand why these kinds of tribal statements are allowed to be made in this day and age. Where is the hue and cry akin to when the “Calcutta Ship” statement was made?

    This is a sad reflection on what can be considered acceptable statements on the campaign trail.

    • Excellent point Damian. The public rightly spoke up against the “Calcutta Ship” statement as did the PP, the Prime Minister and Sat Maharaj. It would help if those same people acknowledged that talk about ‘Mala’ and the attack on Hindus is also inappropriate at best. And, at worse, is racist and divisive.

  3. Mr Liburd, without prejudice to anything else in this vein that you may want to write, I have to warn you that at this rate you will soon be T&T biggest persona non-Mala!

    But those without prejudices period love these biting pieces and wish that you would do more, not less, of them

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