JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Friday, July 11, 2025

Business owner under fire for Ramsaran’s support

by

Casandra Thompson-Forbes
1792 days ago
20200813
Renan Harrylal, owner of Rena’s Chattack Roti Shop in Scarborough.

Renan Harrylal, owner of Rena’s Chattack Roti Shop in Scarborough.

Sev­er­al To­bag­o­ni­ans are now call­ing for a boy­cott of Re­na’s Chat­tack Roti Shop in Scar­bor­ough, af­ter its own­er, Re­na Har­ry­lal, al­leged­ly called for a boy­cott of all su­per­mar­ket chains who were pulling Ram­saran’s Dairy Prod­ucts in a Face­book com­ment on Wednes­day.

Ram­saran’s Dairy Prod­ucts is cur­rent­ly fac­ing a boy­cott af­ter a com­ment from a fam­i­ly mem­ber on the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment’s (PNM) vic­to­ry over the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress in Mon­day’s Gen­er­al Elec­tion, which was deemed as racist, drew out­rage from the pub­lic.

Naila Ram­saran has since apol­o­gised and been fired from her fa­ther’s com­pa­ny but this has not pre­vent­ed the back­lash, with at least six ma­jor su­per­mar­ket chains pulling the com­pa­ny’s dairy prod­ucts from their shelves.

The su­per­mar­ket chains in­clud­ed, Massy Stores, Xtra Foods, West Bees Su­per­mar­ket, JT Al­lum Group of Com­pa­nies, Tru­Valu Su­per­mar­ket and Per­sad’s D Food King.

How­ev­er, dur­ing a thread of com­ments un­der a press re­lease is­sued by Per­sad’s D Food King, in which it not­ed that it will be ceas­ing busi­ness with Ram­saran’s Dairy Com­pa­ny, a com­ment from Har­ry­lal sparked a fresh furore on the is­land.

Har­ry­lal, who busi­ness is lo­cat­ed in Scar­bor­ough, wrote the fol­low­ing com­ment, “Boy­cott all the gro­cery that tak­ing it if (sic) their shelves In­di­an ppm (sic) all yuh have the pow­ers to shut them down (sic).” In an­oth­er com­ment, she said, “Per­sad’s all yuh go pay the price.”

One of the posts by Tobago businesswoman Rena Harrylal which was deemed in support of a racist rant by a family member of Ramsaran’s Dairy Products.

One of the posts by Tobago businesswoman Rena Harrylal which was deemed in support of a racist rant by a family member of Ramsaran’s Dairy Products.

In an im­me­di­ate re­ac­tion, many To­bag­o­ni­ans voiced their opin­ions about the stance Har­ry­lal took on the is­sue, stat­ing that she was more con­cerned about the ac­tion of the boy­cott rather than the orig­i­nal state­ments made by Naila Ram­saran and how that would af­fect so­ci­ety.

How­ev­er, in an at­tempt to ex­plain her Face­book posts, Har­ry­lal took to an all-fe­male Face­book group, In­side Out Beau­ty, say­ing she was con­cerned about those who work for the dairy com­pa­ny.

“Why would we want to boy­cott a com­pa­ny to put in­no­cent peo­ple out of a job for what one em­ploy­ee think Not fair,” Har­ry­lal wrote in the group post.

In an­oth­er com­ment, she said, “But we can­not pun­ish (sic) in­no­cent peo­ple for what she did.”

In is­su­ing an apol­o­gy there­after, Har­ry­lal said her words were tak­en out of con­text.

“To my IOB mem­bers, my point is if one per­son makes a de­mean­ing com­ment in re­sponse to a com­ment, why must fam­i­ly and the com­pa­ny that em­ploys hun­dreds of peo­ple pay for what that per­son?

The post in which Tobago businesswoman Rena Harrylal attempted to apologise for the comment she made which was deemed in support of a racist rant by a family member of Ramsaran’s Dairy Products.

The post in which Tobago businesswoman Rena Harrylal attempted to apologise for the comment she made which was deemed in support of a racist rant by a family member of Ramsaran’s Dairy Products.

“Tell her what you want Light her up. Did she dis­cuss what she said with every em­ploy­ee? Why pun­ish in­no­cent ppl and put them out of a job? My words was tak­en in the wrong con­text. I apol­o­gise if I of­fend­ed any­one. Share just u did the post.”

Many To­bag­o­ni­ans have now vowed to boy­cott Har­ry­lal’s es­tab­lish­ment and have gone as far as rec­om­mend­ing oth­er busi­ness­es who sell the same del­i­ca­cy as her es­tab­lish­ment.

Har­ry­lal has since ei­ther edit­ed or delet­ed some of the com­ments she made on Face­book.


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored