Religious leaders demand apology from Kaieteur News, Freddie Kissoon – following India’s protest of controversial Gandhi article

Several leading members of the religious community have expressed outrage and condemned the publication of an article in the Kaieteur News, written by controversial columnist Freddie Kissoon, which painted an unflattering picture of Mahatma Gandhi’s sexuality.

The ire of the religious community comes in the wake of the Indian government formally protesting the publication of the article and the Kaieteur News reportedly taking a hardnosed stance and refusing to apologise for its publication.
A senior member of a leading Islamic organisation called on the Kaieteur News to apologise forthwith, pointing out that Kissoon is “notorious” for unsubstantiated columns.

He said he does not believe this will be Kissoon’s last such column, adding that the Kaieteur News ought to show some sense of “media responsibility” for once by recalling the article.
One experienced pastor in a Pentecostal church noted that the global community is in unison and total unanimity where respect and admiration for Gandhi is concerned. He said Kissoon’s pontifications must have been the usual figments of his “persistent wild imaginations” and hatred for people who have contributed unselfishly to the common good of society.
A Hindu leader, when called for a comment, expressed total disgust, loathing both the Kaieteur News and the author of the column.
He reminded the Guyanese community that Gandhi was the primary leader of India’s independence movement and the architect of a form of passive civil disobedience which has impacted the world until today.
“To think that someone could even conceive of such mischief and proceed to pen an article of the type written by Kissoon is symbolic of a sick and depraved mind,” he added.
Earlier this week, Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett confirmed receiving objections from the Indian High Commissioner Puran Mal Meena. She said, while the Foreign Affairs Ministry informed the Indian High Commission that Kissoon “doesn’t speak” for the Guyana government, the current administration was gravely concerned about the impact of the article.

Guyana Times International understands that Kaieteur News continues to refuse to apologise, even though the controversial columnist has labelled New Delhi’s posture “literary imperialism” calculated to perpetrate academic censorship.
Kissoon, a known contentious columnist who has been booted from other local newspapers, including the Guyana Chronicle and the opposition-aligned Stabroek News, is currently before the court defending a libel lawsuit filed by former President Bharrat Jagdeo following the publication of yet another controversial column, also in the Kaieteur News, another opposition associated newspaper.