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Reply to "Most Handsome Coolie Man Ever to come out of Guyana"

Dondadda posted:
comrade posted:

I met Balram Singh Rai for the last time in London in 1982 at a religious function  and whilst chatting with him I enquired whether it was true that his Justice Party was financed by the CIA . He did not answer and became very cold towards me after. Subsequently some of the declassified documents revealed that the CIA did provide financial support to the Justice Party . The CIA hoped that the Justice Party would have pulled away Hindu support from the PPP in 1964. They also financially  supported GUMP under Hoosein Ghanie  with the hope that Muslim support would  have been pulled away from the PPP. Both efforts failed.

You insulted BS by asking him the question you did. He is right not to respond to you and show you the cold shoulder. He did not get CIA money. If you believe that then tell us how much they gave him and let us see the declassified documents.

Don, there is a book titled "U.S. INTERVENTION IN BRITISH GUIANA: A Cold War Story" by Stephen G Rabe. This is a quotation from that book: "Sustained by unpleasant perceptions of the past, the [Lyndon] Johnson administration worked tirelessly to ensure that Guyanese rejected Cheddi Jagan in the national election scheduled for December 1964. The administration aimed to prevent the PPP from garnering 50 percent of the national vote .... The Johnson administration focused on enhancing the abilities of the PNC and UF and creating splinter parties to draw Indians away from Jagan and the PPP .... The CIA settled on Jai Narine Singh and Balram Singh Rai to lead the new Justice Party. Jai Narine Singh asked the United States for $75,000 a month in campaign expenses to be deposited in the Royal Bank of Canada."

Don, I have no personal animosity against Balram Singh Rai. In fact, I like him. But he had a compelling motivation to join the US in removing Jagan from office after he was expelled from the PPP in 1962. The poster Comrade was not tactful in raising a political issue with Mr Rai at a religious function in London in 1982, but certain historical facts should not be swept under the carpet. This is all I have to say.

FM
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