PNM urges Govt to rethink its non-support of Nagar

Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) Sen­a­tors Faris Al-Rawi and Fos­ter Cum­mings are urg­ing the Gov­ern­ment to re­think its non-sup­port of this year’s Di­vali Na­gar, while chair­man Mar­vin Gon­za­les is ques­tion­ing the sud­den with­draw­al of state spon­sor­ship, warn­ing that the de­ci­sion could cre­ate the per­cep­tion of po­lit­i­cal re­tal­i­a­tion against cul­tur­al in­sti­tu­tions.

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia out­side Par­lia­ment in Port-of-Spain yes­ter­day, Al-Rawi ques­tioned the tim­ing of the spon­sor­ship with­drawals, par­tic­u­lar­ly giv­en the prox­im­i­ty to the start of the cel­e­bra­tions.

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He said, “A week be­fore the Di­vali Na­gar re­al­ly hap­pens, you have a host of state en­ti­ties just with­draw­ing. That sort of puts you on­to the pre­car­i­ous cliff of what’s go­ing to hap­pen next.”