Heading to court.
That’s the route ex-United National Congress MP Vasant Bharath is taking after he began legal action on Wednesday against UNC leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
Bharath sought a public apology from her within 24 hours, regarding remarks she allegedly made about him on Monday.
But Persad-Bissessar failed to apologise by yesterday evening.
“I’m proceeding to do what I have to according to the letter served on Mrs Persad-Bissssar on Wednesday,” Bharath said yesterday.
“Hers was an unwarranted attack on me. It demands I take a principled stand. I’ve worked long and hard to build an international and regional reputation based on my academic qualifications and experience. I won’t stand by and have anyone - including the Opposition Leader - muddy my name.”
Bharath, a lifetime UNC member, former St Augustine MP and Senator, unsuccessfully challenged Persad- Bissessar for the UNC leadership in 2020.
Last Sunday, a group of former Caroni workers lobbying for the award of Caroni lands clashed with UNC Women’s Arm members protesting the death of the four LMCS divers. This led to UNC’s David Lee questioning if “Vasant was behind this thing.”
Bharath denied any involvement with the incident. Caroni workers leader Devika Thomas, who contested a UNC post in 2015 on UNC MP Roodal Moonilal’s slate, also said the workers were a non-political group.
However, at UNC’s Monday Night Forum, Persad-Bissessar referred to the clash indirectly and directly with various remarks, including on “abusive men” and people who were “rejected” by UNC members. She also called Bharath’s name.
The following day, Bharath again stated he wasn’t involved in the incident and promised to defend his name. UNC Women’s arm then issued a statement against him.
On Wednesday afternoon, Bharath’s attorney, Nazima Ali-Knox, issued a pre-action protocol letter to Persad-Bissessar for alleged false, slanderous, misleading and defamatory statements against him. The letter demanded the apology immediately within 24 hours and the removal of Persad-Bissessar’s statements from her social media pages and UNC’s also. If she didn’t comply, legal proceedings could be commenced for an injunction restraining her and others from continued/further publication of the defamatory statements.
Persad-Bissessar didn’t respond to a TG email query, or calls, on if she’d apologise yesterday.
The attorney’s letter, which cited media reports also, noted the statements were broadcast on UNC’s Facebook, republished on Persad-Bissessar’s official Facebook and the UNC’s YouTube Page.
“Up to 8 am 23rd March it attracted 10,000-plus views, 156 shares and 663 comments.”
The letter stated to Persad-Bissessar, “The meaning of your statements is pellucidly clear that the abusive men who are being sent to attack and verbally abuse the women of the UNC were sent by (Bharath) ...”
Other statements were described as amounting to an accusation that Bharath sought to incite and influence others in the commission of the crime of assault. Persad-Bissessar was accused of imputing a motive to Bharath to incite this.
The letter alleged Persad-Bissessar made the statements with the intent to defame, disgrace and injure Bharath.
“You knew these statements to be false, or, at a barest minimum, that there was no foundation for them whatsoever. You uttered those falsehoods with the conscious calculation that there would be persons who would believe them, based upon your high office as Opposition Leader if nothing else.
“You sought to bolster your slanderous allegations of criminal conduct by characterising my client as an elitist who has disdain for the majority of UNC members, and by an absurd averment that he believes in and seeks to perpetuate an archaic caste and class system.”
It was claimed Persad-Bissessar’s statements placed the life and reputation of Bharath and his family at immediate, significant risk and sought to damage his political career and international corporate work.