Indigenous communities within Trinidad and Tobago have pushed back against a recent National Council of Indian Culture (NCIC) recommendation to rename the Piarco International Airport in honour of late Prime Minister Basdeo Panday, noting the name’s significance in local history.

During Indian Arrival Day celebrations over the Weekend, NCIC president Surujdeo Mangaroo, suggested the renaming of the airport in honour of the country’s fifth and first East Indian prime minister. He said Panday’s name on the airport was fitting given his role as a leader whose services had impacted the country’s history.

But speaking to the Express yesterday Warao Shaman Raould Simon said his community was fully rejecting the suggestion. Leader of the First Peoples Sovereign Nations in Trinidad and Tobago, Eric Lewis similarly pushed back, calling any move to alter the name an insult, and a sign of a lack of respect for the nation’s Indigenous people.