Late President Janet Jagan’s vibrancy remembered in Essequibo : –at wreath-laying ceremony to mark fifth death anniversary
THE LATE Janet Jagan, former President of the Republic of Guyana and President of the Progressive Women’s Organisation [WPO], was remembered as “mother of the nation” at a moving wreath-laying ceremony to mark her fifth death anniversary at the Cheddi Jagan Children’s Park at Anna Regina on Friday.Chairman of Region 2, Mr Parmanand Persaud, in an address to scores of party members at the commemorative service, said the late Janet Jagan played an important role in the development of Guyana. The chairman said Janet, who was born on 20th October, 1920 in Chicago, USA, came to Guyana in December of 1943 with Dr, Cheddi Jagan, whom she married and worked alongside to develop the country and free Guyanese from colonialism.
The chairman said Janet was also co-founder of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) and founding member of the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP). Moreover, she was General Secretary of the party, and served as International Secretary, communicating with political movements and women from around the world.
Mr. Persaud said Mrs Jagan also formed the Women’s Progressive Organisation (WPO) by which she mobilised women across the country and expressed the importance of women in the struggle. He also pointed out that Mrs Jagan did lots of work in the sugar industry, and worked among the youths to bring betterment to the country and its people.
Former Member of Parliament and stalwart of the PPP, Mr Isahack Basir, said Mrs Jagan fought for the development of Guyana, including the Amerindian communities. Mr. Basir, who worked very closely with both Janet and Cheddi Jagan, said Mrs Jagan loved Essequibo, and had a weakness for the county. According to Mr. Basir, Mrs Jagan was not only a national hero, but was an international hero who travelled extensively across the world.
Executive member of the Women’s Progressive Organisation, Mrs Juliet Coonjah, said the late Janet Jagan encouraged women to become more educated so as to educate their children. According to Mrs Coonjah, no other woman before Mrs Jagan had ever championed the cause of women in Guyana. She said Mrs Jagan had formed the WPO on the basis of her vision.
Wreaths were laid at the foot of the monument built in memory of Mrs Janet Jagan by Region 2 Chairman Mr. Parmanand Persaud, Vice Chairaman Mr. Samaroo, PPP Branch Office at Anna Regina, GAWU, Rice Producers Association, the PYO, WPO, and by Lima and Pomona WPO groups.
The programme featured poems and songs on the life and work of the late Mrs Janet Jagan.
Rajendra Prabhulall in Essequibo.
, privacy was out of the question as to when the conception might take place: the married couple intending to “try for a child” would have to appear before the congregation in the temple in the morning and announce that they would be doing so that night. If that were not indignity enough, both partners were required to spend the day chanting 64 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra on their japa beads, which means that they would be rapidly mumbling it for a total of 6,912 times. In practice, this is a sort of self-brain washing ritual designed to rid the mind of any anticipation for the act to follow, which, in any case, was supposed to be limited to one fast act during which the couple was supposed to be chanting Hare Krishna anyway. Artificial insemination would have been far more humane.