Dear Editor,

The Opposition AFC party in Guyana and its support group in New York and the Guyanese community in Richmond Hill area will sorely miss the contribution of Sri Sankar Nirahu, who passed away suddenly in New York last week.  He was a very decent human being. And he was respectful of everyone including those on the political Opposition.

Sankar, as he was called, was committed and dedicated to the AFC. He did so much for fledgling party since the inception and for the Guyanese community in the greater Richmond Hill area patronizing cultural events including participation in the annual Phagwah celebrations.

He was one of the key AFC organizers in New York not only in organizing meetings but in fundraising efforts. And he himself made significant financial contribution to the party.

He was respectful and willing to listen to the views of others even when they were in disagreement with his own.

He was quite unlike several of his colleagues in the AFC who were engaged in name calling or denigrating and bashing others in the other media. He was a moderate and not a fanatic. Although he was AFC organizer, he was in friendly terms with PPP/C supporters.

With regard to his political views, he was not supportive of suggestions that AFC should join APNU before the 2011 election or after the elections when the PPP/C became a minority Government by one seat. He also did not support some of the policies of the AFC in Parliament.

He could not forget the sufferings of his people during the period of the ethnic PNC dictatorship and minority apartheid like rule when Indians were oppressed and persecuted on account of their race. He was not pleased with the AFC position on the Agricola beating (robbing and raping) of Indians in 2012 as well as the AFC’s involvement of the provocation of the Linden violence.

He felt the party should have sought political reforms rather than took aggressive actions in which Indians were victims especially that it won seats in parliament off the backs of Indians, and had largely become an Indian party. But Sankar was not one to publicly go against his party. So he remained reserved.

He felt that AFC should retain its independence, using the same description used by Khemraj Ramjattan  – political kokobey – when asked about any political affiliation with the PNC. His views, however, were evolving, and he talked constantly of political change since the 2006 election.

Sankar’s death came as a complete shock to me and others who knew well and who and interacted with him.  He was not ailing in the least, and the last time I saw him he was a healthy young man, jovial and high spirited in his conversation. It just goes to show we are all human and can succumb to ailments suddenly, and therefore, we need to pay attention to our health.

Sankar was one of the nicest guys I met and interacted with. He was simple and modest and had no ego about him. I met him some 20 years ago while he was a real estate sales agent in Richmond Hill. Later, I would bounce up with him on 111 Street of Jamaica Avenue where he shared an office with others, just above where Universal Airlines had its office.

We also met a few times on the aircraft traveling to Guyana or on Liberty Avenue by pure coincidence. In all of my conversations, he would tell me he looked forward for my columns and reports on the Guyanese diaspora.

He always commended me for my volunteerism serving the Guyanese diaspora and writing on Guyana and the Guyanese diaspora in New York. He was always interested in my views on the politics of our homeland and findings of polls I conducted there.

Sankar was not a political activist in the same mould as say the late Lionel Peters or myself or a Vassan Ramracha in community affairs or in the liberation of Guyana from the throes of dictatorship. He did not play an active role in the struggle against PNC persecution of Indians and other non-supporters like Portuguese, Chinese and Amerindians.

But he was an ardent supporter of the struggle for the restoration of democracy in Guyana, and he backed Dr Jagan, when others like those in the WPA, Dr David Hinds, Dr Clive Thomas and Eusi Kwayana were opposed to Jagan becoming President.

Sankar attended many political meetings in New York including several where Dr Jagan was the Chief Guest and later on when Presidents Janet and Jagdeo visited New York. He was at several PPP/C fundraisers long before the AFC was formed. But like several Guyanese, he became disgruntled with happenings in the PPP/C.

And like many of us overseas he was very disappointed when Ramjattan was expelled from the PPP/C. When the AFC was formed in 2006, he supported Ramjattan, and he remained a supporter until his death last week.

I should note that unlike several other real estate brokers and mortgage agents, Sankar did not get himself into trouble with the law. He stayed above real estate scandals.

Although he was not an activist, in the true sense of meaning of the word, the AFC will sorely miss his presence in New York, his organizing skills, fund raising effort, and his visits to Guyana to cultivate support for the party.

Vishnu Bisram