Jesse Ramdeo

Se­nior Re­porter

jesse.ramdeo@cnc3.co.tt

In­de­pen­dent Sen­a­tor An­tho­ny Vieira says on­line ha­rass­ment and un­fair at­tacks on the In­de­pen­dent bench took a toll on the health of fel­low In­de­pen­dent Sen­a­tor and Na­tion­al Coun­cil of In­di­an Cul­ture (NCIC) pres­i­dent De­oroop Teemal, who died at his St Au­gus­tine home ear­ly yes­ter­day morn­ing.

In a trib­ute, Vieira de­scribed Teemal as a mod­el In­de­pen­dent Sen­a­tor.

“His con­tri­bu­tions were con­sis­tent­ly sub­stan­tive, well-rea­soned, and en­tire­ly free from par­ti­san pos­tur­ing. He fo­cused on sound gov­er­nance, bet­ter laws, and a more just so­ci­ety,” Vieira said.

Vieira’s re­marks drew a sharp re­buke from Pub­lic Util­i­ties Min­is­ter Bar­ry Padarath, who ac­cused him of politi­cis­ing Teemal’s death.

“Many of us have faced the chal­lenges that come with pub­lic life, pub­lic de­bate, and even trolling,” Padarath said. “When we swore to up­hold the Con­sti­tu­tion and the law, we signed up to fierce­ly de­fend the right of cit­i­zens to ex­press them­selves.

“Sen­a­tor Vieira con­tin­ues to mas­quer­ade un­der the cloak of in­de­pen­dence and is at­tempt­ing to use the pass­ing of Sen­a­tor Teemal to cre­ate dis­cord.”

The de­bate over po­lit­i­cal pres­sure on the In­de­pen­dent bench comes weeks af­ter Sen­ate Pres­i­dent Wade Mark con­demned the ha­rass­ment of In­de­pen­dent Sen­a­tors, warn­ing in June that such ac­tions un­der­mine par­lia­men­tary democ­ra­cy. His state­ment came be­fore the start of the de­bate on the Prime Min­is­ter’s Pen­sion (Amend­ment) Bill, 2025.

Known for his qui­et strength and com­mand­ing pres­ence, Teemal, a civ­il and struc­tur­al en­gi­neer, was ap­point­ed to the Sen­ate in 2018. His con­tri­bu­tions, record­ed over sev­en years in the Hansard, in­clud­ed his fi­nal speech in June, when he cau­tioned against pro­vi­sions that could com­pro­mise con­sti­tu­tion­al val­ues.

Elect­ed pres­i­dent of the NCIC in April 2023, Teemal over­saw ini­tia­tives to re­vi­talise In­do-Trinida­di­an her­itage, pro­mote in­ter­faith di­a­logue, and mod­ernise the or­gan­i­sa­tion while pre­serv­ing its cul­tur­al roots.

NCIC First Vice-Pres­i­dent Su­ru­jdeo Man­ga­roo said Teemal was “a ded­i­cat­ed leader and a pas­sion­ate ad­vo­cate for cul­tur­al preser­va­tion and com­mu­ni­ty de­vel­op­ment.”

Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar called him “a de­vot­ed pa­tri­ot and cul­tur­al stal­wart” and PNM po­lit­i­cal leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les re­mem­bered him as “a gen­tle per­son… who spoke with au­thor­i­ty and strength.”

Sen­a­tor Dr Amery Browne and for­mer In­de­pen­dent sen­a­tor Paul Richards both de­scribed him as a true pa­tri­ot whose cul­tur­al con­tri­bu­tions were un­matched.