Senior Investigative Reporter
Shaliza.hassanali@guardian.co.tt
Basdeo Panday had a sharp tongue. Imagine being humiliated by it. But that was the fate of former politician Hulsie Bhaggan. Called “pancake face” on a political platform by Panday after a fallout, Bhaggan, the Silver Fox’s friend turned foe, wished for his soul to rest in peace one day after his cremation at the Shore of Peace.
“We moved on,” Bhaggan said in a message to the Sunday Guardian on Thursday.
It was clear that Bhaggan had forgiven Panday almost two decades after his vicious and scathing attack on her.
Panday, 90, died on New Year’s Day at a hospital in Florida. From 1995 to 2001, he served as the country’s fifth prime minister.
As the founder of the United National Congress (UNC) in 1989, Panday remained the political leader of the party until 2010 after he lost his bid to be elected political leader. After being defeated by Kamla Persad-Bissessar, he claimed that the party executive had “stolen the elections”.
Affectionately called the Silver Fox, Panday was cremated on Tuesday following a tearful and celebrative farewell.
The Sunday Guardian reached out to Bhaggan on the same day of Panday’s cremation to share her most memorable moment with him and asked if she would agree with the sentiments expressed by some people that Panday was the country’s best prime minister for his wit, charisma and leadership qualities.
She did not respond. Calls to her phone also went unanswered.
On Wednesday, the Sunday Guardian visited Bhaggan’s workplace at the New Life Ministries Rehabilitation Centre in St Augustine, where she agreed to speak at 1 pm. But shortly after agreeing to an interview, Bhaggan, the clinical director of the drug rehabilitation centre, changed her mind, stating in a WhatsApp message she preferred not to comment.
“We moved on,” Bhaggan wrote, referring to Panday and herself.
“May he rest in peace,” the message stated and included an emoji of clasped hands, which signified a gesture of prayer, respect and thanks.
Bhaggan’s beginnings
Just like Panday, Bhaggan came from humble beginnings to a political career that peaked in controversy.
The second to last of 14 children, Bhaggan grew up in Guayamare, a small village in Caroni.
Her passion for helping the needy and disadvantaged pushed her to stand up with dozens of residents in her community who lost their homes due to the expansion of the Uriah Butler Highway.
For more than a decade the residents had been awaiting compensation and relocation from the Government but were ignored.
This kickstarted Bhaggan’s activism and entry into politics.
Bhaggan’s fight for the voiceless and oppressed is where she met Panday who at that time was president general of the All Trinidad Sugar and General Workers’ Trade Union (ATSGWTU) which she joined as a member.
As an advocate for the people, Bhaggan mobilised the population on rising food prices and championed a petition which was signed by 20,000 citizens.
For one week, she fasted on the steps of the Parliament building calling on the Government to ease the squeeze on the poor man’s pockets.
In her community, she lobbied for a better supply of pipe-borne water.
When central Trinidad was submerged in flood waters, Bhaggan fought in defence of the affected victims.
She also led a national campaign against corruption in the construction of the $100 million Caroni Racing Complex under the then People’s National Movement.
Regarded as a champion for the people and a rising politician, Bhaggan became a founding member of the UNC and later the party’s first public relations officer (PRO) under Panday’s leadership.
From 1992 to 1995, Bhaggan served as Chaguanas MP on the Opposition bench.
Backlash
Bhaggan took her task of serving the people further by blocking the Uriah Butler Highway to protest against the construction of the Guayamare section of the highway which led to her arrest and seven days in prison in solitary confinement.
Her confinement was nothing compared to the backlash she faced when she accused African men of raping East Indian women in Central which created a public outcry and was described as divisive.
Bhaggan in a letter dated May 25, 1993, addressed to then national security minister Russell Huggins, complained of an upsurge in crime in Central. The entire letter was read out by Diego Martin West MP, now Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley during his contribution to Parliament on June 25, 1993.
A call was made by Bhaggan for a joint army/police patrol in Central due to widespread terrorism of constituents whose homes were being broken into for two months.
The victims, the letter stated, were robbed and beaten and women raped.
Stressing that constituents were under siege, Bhaggan further stated that in every single community of her constituency, there were now neighbourhood watch groups. Bhaggan listed three women who were victims of rape without calling their names.
The letter accused Huggins of being aware of the situation but had refused to take action.
The T&T Police Service (TTPS) was also knocked for its insufficient vehicles to respond to reports.
Bhaggan pointed out in the letter that unless the Government was prepared to do something, constituents would embark on whatever means possible to protect themselves and their families.
It also revealed a very sordid aspect of the siege–the perpetrators were men of African descent and the victims were East Indians. Her explosive claims created a public uproar.
Condemning Bhaggan’s accusations, Rowley told members as a multi-ethnic country when we begin to identify our problems along ethnic lines, even people who should know better would begin to behave in a certain way and these situations only get worse.
In her contribution, Bhaggan argued there was an increase in robberies and violent crimes in the country, stating over the last decade many women had been raped while there was no action from the police.
Giving a breakdown of the 1992 crime statistics, Bhaggan stated a robbery was committed every three hours, every 20 hours a person was wounded and rapes and sexual offences were committed every 36 hours.
The murder rate stood at three per week, Bhaggan said.
Radical style
Bhaggan’s radical style of politics and advocacy for people to be placed before the party raised eyebrows. She also rejected the tradition of MPs towing the party line.
This did not sit well with Panday, and in 1994 Bhaggan faced expulsion from the UNC and was relegated to the backbench in Parliament.
From being friends in politics, Bhaggan and Panday had drawn swords.
Panday publicly attacked and denigrated Bhaggan by calling her “pancake face” in a public space. Bhaggan, on the other hand, refused to support the party with certain bills in Parliament.
With a long history in activism, social development, trade unionism and growing populism, Bhaggan in a 2010 interview with the Trinidad Guardian remembered heading Club Monday, which included Pamela Gokool, Rookmin Sooknanan and Ann Marie Bilbadur who brought sexual charges against a UNC member in October 1994.
Panday, the article stated, later sued Gokool for libel and slander at a Penal meeting.
The fallout between them also led calypsonian David Rudder to compose the song “The Ballad of Hulsie X” in 1988, immortalising her as the “Sugar Belt Queen” always on the Central scene.
Panday was accused of shifting the UNC from being a raggamuffin monarchy to supporting the parasitic oligarchy in the song. One line of the calypso stated there was a scourge in the land of an “African zeg machine”.
A female with a high-pitched voice can be heard saying in the background of the calypso “Ah not moving,!” “Get them out!” and “sexual harassment”.
Panday not guilty
In a shocking move in 1994, Panday faced five charges under the Sexual Offences Act, including attempted rape.
His accusers were three young women employed at the UNC’s Couva-based office.
Before the 1995 snap general election was called by then prime minister Patrick Manning, a magistrate completed hearing the matter.
At that time, the UNC was gaining momentum in the political landscape under Panday’s leadership.
Panday captured a swell of support from the voting population to become the country’s fifth prime minister in 1995.
One week after the election, the magistrate declared Panday not guilty.
Bhaggan’s passion for serving people drove her to form the Movement for Unity and Progress (MUP) which did not attract electoral support or a seat in the polls.
MUP only attained 0.4 per cent of the national vote.
Battered and bruised, Bhaggan bowed out of politics and began to work at the New Life Ministries and Rehabilitation Centre.
Bhaggan went into political oblivion until she resurfaced in 2010 as a member of the Congress of the People and later became a deputy chairman of the party.
In 2010 Bhaggan said in an interview with the Sunday Guardian that she had forgiven Panday “a long time ago” and that it was not about Panday. “I wanted to help transform the party. I had nothing personal with him.”
Bhaggan recalled her pleasant beginnings with Panday, stating that she was working at a bank and got involved with ATSGWTU.
Panday’s commitment to helping the working class and poor attracted Bhaggan to him.
During her stint with the UNC, Bhaggan helped set up Heal, the party’s drug rehabilitation centre.
She had said Panday was reluctant to let go of power, and he should not “be blamed totally for the mistakes he made as people around him affected his behaviour which appeared dictatorial and authoritative.”
She said that Panday could have left his political life “in a blaze of glory” and that “some should take responsibility for allowing his demise in such an unceremonious manner.”
She wished Panday all the best.
After his exit from politics, Panday led a quieter life, and his tumultuous career as a politician was left to the history books.