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Sex and power, religion and politics, an old quenk and a young temptress, a misled school girl and an irresponsible teacher, faith-based healing versus medical diagnosis, violence and counter-violence, a mall built too close to the highway, another MP gone wild and, of course, a poor Brahmin boboolee.
Mr Live Wire read the police report filed by Sacha Singh against Tourism Minister Chandresh Sharma, gasped at the perfect alignment of what is surely the most important yet inconsequential story in local politics and passed out.
From sheer force of habit, Live Wire promptly sued Opposition Leader Keith Rowley as soon as he regained his senses. It is what Pundit Sharma would have done. But I am getting ahead of myself.
The Sharma story started ten years ago with a storm and a teacup. Literally.
In September 2004, Hurricane Ivan hit Grenada and, along with over a dozen fatalities, cost the island an estimate US$900 million in damages and prompted nations and well-wishers all over the world to dip into their pockets. The Trinidad and Tobago government, then led by the PNM, was among the contributors.
In the Parliamentary tea room on 15 September 2004, Sharma, no doubt as versed on Caribbean affairs as his current colleagues, allegedly told Rowley that the PNM’s assistance to Grenada was racially motivated; and all hell broke loose. Well, at least a teacup was smashed.
No wonder ex-FIFA VP allegedly forgot to walk with cash when he visited Haiti.
(Courtesy CONCACAF)
Sharma spent another two hours debating in Parliament before he decided to file a police report in which he claimed that Rowley hit him with his hand, a teacup, two remotes and everything in the room but the television. The West Indies cricket team was beating Bangladesh at the time and, presumably, Rowley was not about to cut off his coverage to spite Sharma’s face.
Sharma was represented by present Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar in the matter.
The case from the MP and the PM SC was so unconvincing that it was thrown out by the Parliamentary Privileges Committee and the DPP Geoffrey Henderson while UNC MP Gillian Lucky broke ranks with her party in disgust at the whole episode and Sharma himself did not appear before the High Court to give evidence. The matter cost taxpayers $5 million in legal fees.
Had Rowley been driving a firetruck at the time of their spat, the local economy might have collapsed.
Fast forward to 12 March 2014, when Sacha Singh supposedly regained consciousness at the Grand Bazaar Mall in Valsayn after Sharma allegedly shoved her to the ground. She claimed that the Minister sapped water on her face and told her to take a shower and she would be fine.
Live Wire was not sure if Sharma’s faith-based diagnosis was meant to cure a concussion or perspiration. And this from a man who went under drips at the Port of Spain General Hospital because a teacup broke in a room that he was in.
(Courtesy Trinidad Guardian)
Singh, incidentally, is in her late 20s; Sharma, her “former boyfriend” who started his ministerial term as a husband and father of four, is 60.
So what prompted Sharma and Singh to get physical at Ansa McAl’s highway mall which, prior to the overpass, prompted more illegal driving than the Highway Roti Shop that the State closed two years ago?
Well, Singh claimed to have invited Sharma to join her in the car and discreetly positioned another supposedly ex-lover of the Fyzabad MP in the back seat. So far, so kinky.
But there was a 12-year-old girl there too who was supposedly fathered by Sharma. Good feeling? Gone.
(Future Mercedes Benz ad: Our vehicle offers so much cabin space that you wouldn’t notice your ex-lover and child in the back seat).
Apparently Singh, who is less “Generation X” and more “Generation Jerry Springer”, decided to lure Sharma into a confrontation with his former lover and young child at 7.45 pm on a Wednesday night when she might have been finishing home work instead. The child’s mother, coincidentally, is a school teacher.
Sharma caught a look at the child and bolted; which, in this case, did not mean that he tried some overly aggressive dance steps on the nearest unsuspecting female. The school teacher caught Sharma and the MP allegedly begged her not to hit him since he was “a Brahmin boy.”
Unperturbed, Singh, by her own account, joined her new friend outside and grabbed the MP by his tie. Sadly, this unfortunate episode happened right in front of a 12-year-old girl.
Worse, this might be the missing verse that could have won Brian London $1 million dollars for “When last you see your MP?”
And then, allegedly, came Sharma’s shove and bizarre diagnosis.
Since then, Sharma and his former attorney, Persad-Bissessar, have been incommunicado. Live Wire cannot confirm that young women all over the country are dying to put the sweetman minister in a caste anytime they get their hands on him; and an increasingly large number of voters are demanding a new caste-away from the Cabinet.
Meanwhile, Diana Mahabir-Wyatt and other domestic violence crusaders have a live issue on their hands. Sharma tried to walk away from a heated verbal exchange but was physically prevented from doing so by two angry women.
Two women collared him in Grand Bazaar.
(Courtesy Christian Hume)
So, who is guilty of assaulting who?
It might be a landmark case that could split domestic violence into two eras: Before Sharma and post-Before Sharma. The latter term, of course, is pure BS. But can’t you say the same for everything about local politics these days?
Editor’s Note: Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar advised the President to revoke Chandresh Sharma’s Cabinet post on 31 March 2014 after stating that: “Each member of my administration must be mindful that we are held to different, higher standards than ever before, even by those who are our most bitter critics.
“There is no privileged escape, no allowance for arrogance, no forgiveness for indiscretion.”
Click HERE for an archived news story from when the PM was more lax with her Cabinet.
Or click HERE for our satirical take on when the PM first tried, unsuccessfully, to sack Jack Warner.
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During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and with Trinidad and Tobago recording an average of 23 deaths a day, Read more
Faris (pronounced far-risk) Verb: (1) to half-arse a task for the superficial benefit of being seen to do it. ‘When Read more
Trinidad and Tobago’s Covid-19 vaccination drive will lose two days of implementation this week due to a rescheduling forced upon Read more
On a faraway, remote island in a time long, long before yesterday, a great Party that always prevails—it is on Read more
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Mr. Live Wire is an avid news reader who translates media reports for persons who can handle the truth. And satire. Unlike Jack Nicholson, he rarely yells.
Chandresh Sharma is irrelevant…….has always been. On a note of interest, Chandresh Sharma is not now, nor has ever been a Brahmin. Name does not make you a Brahmin. Brahminism brings with it certain responsibilities and a way of living. There are a few examples, very few examples of brahmin in Trinidad, and of those few, fewer still carry the ‘brahmin’ surname. Just saying. Do not be fooled wolves in sheep’s clothing.
I’m assuming that she tried everything else and is now looking to mix it up a bit. Still, fingers crossed that she remains consistent straight until 2015. At the least, she can set a trend for the next Gov’t to follow if there is a change.
PM: “Each member of my administration must be mindful that we are held to different, higher standards than ever before, even by those who are our most bitter critics.
“There is no privileged escape, no allowance for arrogance, no forgiveness for indiscretion. Those days are gone, such compromise has expired. The responsible leadership which we promised to usher in a dawn of a new era is the new political currency.”
Them minister looking for…. veal.
Brahmin steups!..Fire him now,just shows that mindset of the man.
Brahmin: A member of the highest priestly caste or varna in Hinduism. The other major castes, from highest to lowest, are the Kshatriya (warriors and princes), Vaisya (farmers or merchants) and Shudra (servants and sharecroppers)…..Am I the only one that sees a major issue with how this individual perceives himself?
The only thing I did not love about this piece is the use of the Jack Warner photo that we have seen 336 times before according to an Express count.
And I snickered and chuckled and even guffawed all the way through.
You have a real gift, Lasana, and one day all of T&T will become aware of it.
Greeting Mr. Best.
Kaiso, kaiso…
Melville Foster wake up
Things really sad in this society, yes!
Men still want to be the village ram and ignore the consequences, private and public, of their indiscretions. While Singh clearly is braver and craftier than most women in her, why did Sharma Bolt upon the site of an former flame accompanied by a child that is presumably his? where is the legal Mrs Sharma in all of this? And his other legitimate children who, come June 15th, may decide Dad deserves a dunce cap, a vasectomy and some clouts to the cranium as Fathers’ Day gifts …
Hell really hath no fury like a woman scorned, or a horner-woman horned!
Hope Brian doh mind me taking a little liberty
Next caller, next caller…
Sharmaaaaaaaa!!!
The MP for Fyzabad
Boy, to find that man it is so hard
Maybe we could ask Sasha Singh
Or the St. Joseph police who lookin fuh him
Miss lady, next caller …
Kamlaaaaaa!!!
My lady Prime Minister
Last time I see she was in America
She putting on African wear
If she know wat is good she would respond
Look yuh MP, look him dey
Look he dey, look he dey, doh let him get away!
These young women these days only looking for sugar daddies. Them really good yes.
While the women here have some culpability, they cannot shoulder it alone. Sharma as a so-called family man should have known better. He certainly cannot claim he was forcibly coerced into any relationship with these women. (Judging from a picture of Ms Sacha Singh I saw today, the only coercions she inflicted on Sharma were increased heart rates and rhythmic activities …
One cannot seek what does not exist, so for a ‘bad ting’ to thrive there must be a sugar daddy to conquer. And Chandresh appeared quite happy in the role until the falling out that culminated in the bacchanal of March 12th
Indra Ramsingh-Geoffroy, give us the missing kaiso verse again!
Even Rowley knew you just don’t hit a Brahmin boy…
Haha. Indeed!
Glenn’s epitaph reads: “Your days are numbered…”
Will Sharma’s read: “Go home and take a shower”?
No Words!!!
The women in this incident look for they ting. They ambushed the man, thinking they were clever. Singh have real guts. She dating a married man, father of 4 (or 5) and she wants to make a public stink and play self righteous. She should be ashamed of herself. She should have just told the old bastard to loose her number. All she is doing is telling all of Trinidad she has low self esteem.
He’s a 60 yr old married father of 4 dating a twenty something yr old woman. He has “guts” but she should be “ashamed”? Really??