Navin Chandarpal was a popular PPP/C figure

Dear Editor,

The Guyanese community in New York who know Navin Chandarpal, friends in Trinidad where he visited frequently and interacted with the large Guyanese community, and myself are saddened by the news of the passing of this remarkable person.

Those of us who worked with him during the anti-dictatorial struggle will not forget his role and his contribution to the liberation of Guyana. He was a terrific guy with a broad smile never to hold spite against anyone.

He has made sterling contributions to various fields of endeavour in the nation, including serving as Minister. His contribution to the PPP cannot be measured. He served his country with dedication and honour.

For his hard work and commitment to the party and nation, he deserves the highest honours and accolades. It is unfortunate that the country has not formally recognised him for his work.

I know this gentleman very well having interacted with him for well over 25 years in several countries. I met him several times in NY, Trinidad and Guyana; Navin was present at several fundraisers in Trinidad including in October 2011 and in NY.

It was only last July at an academic conference in Trinidad that friends enquired about his health. I had hoped to see him during my three trips to Guyana this year, but he was away receiving medical treatment and he was in no condition for visitors when I was there the weekend before Diwali.

Friends cannot believe that Navin is no more. Everywhere, they spoke fondly of and reminisced about him.

I met Navin, as friends fondly called him, for the first time during the late 1980s prior to which I read his articles and learnt about his activism as a freedom fighter in the then Opposition PPP/C.

I bounced up with him at various social events in Guyana and in Trinidad (at weddings, Jhandis, cocktail receptions, birthdays, anniversaries, fundraisers, funerals, book launches, etc).

We had lengthy exchanges at the height of the anti-dictatorial struggle during the late 1980s and through the early 1990s when he was made Presidential Adviser on Science to Dr Jagan.

He was very familiar with the activism of a handful of us (Mel Carpen, Chuck Mohan, Baytoram Ramharack, Ravi Dev, Vishnu Bisram, Arjune Karshan, etc) in America to restore democratic governance. He lauded our contributions to free and fair elections and he showered glowing praise for my reporting on the Guyanese diaspora and my numerous commentaries on varied issues.

Navin had a professional approach to everything, and I remember him fondly visiting his Freedom House office numerous times to acquire political literature during the 1980s through 1992. And at times I would also meet my friend Moses Nagamootoo. What brilliant and articulate minds they were, the latter more intellectually gifted especially in writing and social analyses! The two were bosom friends who contributed significantly, like other stalwarts including Clement Rohee, Feroze Mohammed, Donald Ramotar, etc, to the growth of the PPP/C and restoration of democratic rule.

I assessed Navin as a battle-hardened freedom fighter, like some of my peers in New York, who gave much of his life to struggle against the dictatorship. And like his colleagues and those of us who were activists against the dictatorship, he suffered tremendously at the hands of thugs and goons put up by the dictatorship.

Navin, as he was popularly called in Trinidad, Guyana and in North America, was a very terrific guy.  He always found time for an exchange and never shied away from a debate defending the PPP/C even when critiqued by commentators like myself.

I recall his smiling pleasant face at many events and locations I visited in Guyana during my numerous trips to the homeland over the last 25 years. He was never one to be angry with people.  He was a down-to-earth, grassroots individual. On a few occasions, he provided me with a lift to my hotel after social events late in the evenings.

Several professionals told me he would have made an excellent President though he showed no interest in that office and he avoided the subject when I broached it with him in 2010 and again in early 2011.

Navin’s passing leaves a void in the PPP/C that will not be easily filled, for few commands the kind of respect people (including from the AFC’s Moses and Khemraj Ramjattan) have had for him.

Navin’s life, as foes and friends would attest, remains an outstanding testimony to professionalism and selfless service to community and country. My sympathies go out to his widow Indra and two children and all those who mourn his passing.

May he rest in peace!

Yours truly,

Vishnu Bisram