RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

Se­nior Mul­ti­me­dia Re­porter

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Ro­man Catholic priest Fa­ther David Khan says hold­ing a Gen­er­al Elec­tion dur­ing Lent can cre­ate a height­ened po­lit­i­cal cli­mate that could over­shad­ow the re­flec­tive na­ture of the sea­son, lead­ing to po­lar­iza­tion and po­lit­i­cal at­tacks.

Re­spond­ing to ques­tions from Guardian Me­dia, Khan, the parish priest of Our La­dy of Per­pet­u­al Help RC Church in San Fer­nan­do, called on Ro­man Catholics to re­main mind­ful of the spir­it of the sea­son.

“The height­ened po­lit­i­cal cli­mate may over­shad­ow the pen­i­ten­tial and re­flec­tive na­ture of Lent. Cam­paigns can some­times en­cour­age di­vi­sion, per­son­al at­tacks, and a fo­cus on world­ly pow­er rather than spir­i­tu­al re­new­al,” he said.

He al­so ex­pressed con­cern about the neg­a­tive rhetoric.

“Po­lit­i­cal de­bates can fos­ter an­i­mos­i­ty, con­trary to the Lenten call for rec­on­cil­i­a­tion and love of neigh­bour,” he said.

Khan warned of eth­i­cal and moral con­sid­er­a­tions in the po­lit­i­cal process.

“Can­di­dates and par­ties may use de­cep­tive tac­tics, promis­es, or strate­gies that con­tra­dict Chris­t­ian moral teach­ing, mak­ing dis­cern­ment es­sen­tial.

“While a gen­er­al elec­tion dur­ing Lent can pose chal­lenges, it al­so of­fers an op­por­tu­ni­ty for Catholics to in­te­grate their faith in­to civic life, mak­ing de­ci­sions that re­flect Gospel val­ues,” he said.

Khan called on Catholics to align their par­tic­i­pa­tion with their faith.

“By ap­proach­ing the elec­toral process with prayer, dis­cern­ment, and a com­mit­ment to jus­tice, Catholics can en­sure that their par­tic­i­pa­tion aligns with both their Lenten jour­ney and their moral du­ty as cit­i­zens,” he said.

Pun­dit Mukram Lloyd Sir­joo, Dhar­ma­charia of the Trinidad Acad­e­my of Hin­duism, urged politi­cians to main­tain a clean cam­paign.

“Since we are al­ready in the elec­tion fight, I ad­vise politi­cians to play a fair game and keep it clean. Keep the mud­sling­ing out and re­spect each oth­er’s views. Do not chas­tise peo­ple for hav­ing a dif­fer­ent opin­ion,” Sir­joo said.

He added that Prime Min­is­ter Stu­art Young should have called the elec­tion af­ter the Lenten sea­son.

How­ev­er, the pres­i­dent of the In­ter-Re­li­gious Or­gan­i­sa­tion, Dr El­lis Bur­ris, had no is­sue with the tim­ing of the elec­tions.

“The State is hav­ing an elec­tion, and in my opin­ion, the time is op­por­tune be­cause it is a time for pray­ing and a time for de­ci­sion-mak­ing in the coun­try. Peo­ple should pray that the right gov­ern­ment is elect­ed in this coun­try,” he said.

He not­ed that the IRO was sanc­tioned by the gov­ern­ment.

“If the gov­ern­ment wants to have an elec­tion, let us abide by it and keep pray­ing. If every­one be­comes more spir­i­tu­al, we will have a bet­ter na­tion. If we have racism around elec­tion time, let us pray for racism to end,” he added.

Trinidad Mus­lim League pres­i­dent Farz Khan said Ra­madan will end on March 31 and the elec­tion would not af­fect Mus­lims or Eid-ul-Fitr ob­ser­vances.

“The elec­tion will not have any im­pact on Eid cel­e­bra­tions or the re­main­der of the month. I don’t see this af­fect­ing any spir­i­tu­al ac­tiv­i­ties or hav­ing any neg­a­tive ef­fects,” he said.

How­ev­er, he urged politi­cians to en­sure in­tegri­ty in their cam­paigns.

“I think they should deal with the is­sues at hand and they should have a clean cam­paign; pro­vide the best so­lu­tions to the pop­u­la­tion, and most im­por­tant­ly, show re­spect for each oth­er. They should main­tain a high stan­dard in cam­paign­ing,” Khan said.

He added, “Af­ter all is said and done, we are all cit­i­zens, and we all have to live to­geth­er, so we must main­tain high stan­dards at all times.”