Renuka scoffs at UNC senator: ‘My Ram is different to yours’

Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Trinidad and Tobago Newsday

Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney General Senator Renuka Sagramsingh-Sooklal –

THE Hindu deity Lord Ram cannot be likened to former attorney general Anand Ramlogan and attorney Gerald Ramdeen despite one Opposition senator calling the legal duo “the two Rams.” This assertion came from Minister in the Office of the Attorney General, Renuka Sagramsingh-Sooklal, countering Jayanti Lutchmedial in the budget debate in the Senate on Wednesday.

DPP Roger Gaspard dropped corruption charges against Ramlogan and Ramdeen on Monday, after King’s Counsel and main witness Vincent Nelson declined to testify against them until the hearing of his civil lawsuit against the State for an alleged breach of indemnity. Earlier Lutchmedial recalled a recent Ramleela portrayal of Lord Ram’s journey from his home in Ajodha and his 14-year quest to save his wife from the evil king Rawan. “It’s amazing that on Monday, what transpired in a virtual courtroom in this country reminded me so much of that story that I witnessed in a play form on Sunday night,“ Lutchmedial said, referring to Ramleela celebrations.

“Today I feel I am in the city of Ajodha where we witness the victory of not one but two Rams that have become victorious over the schemes, the manoeuvrings, meant to score political mileage. It has a cost attached to it which the taxpayer must continue to bear because this Government through its budget, through its expenditure, continues to use the Treasury to further its own motives, its own objectives, to improve their lives and secure themselves in office, but not treating with the needs of this population.”She said the budget was based on “ineptitude, bad mind and nepotism,” had produced no anti-crime measures, and deserved an outcry against it.Lutchmedial said monies paid out by the Government as legal fees and legal damages will be felt by the taxpayer who must pay more at the gasoline pump.Recalling the Privy Council’s quashing of the Piarco #1 case, she said Monday’s dismissal was history repeating itself.Sagramsingh-Sooklal sharply disagreed. She began by saying the Senate was a place of dignity, not a UNC Monday Night Forum nor election hustings, in a clear barb at Lutchmedial’s presentation.

Sagramsingh-Sooklal scoffed at Lutchmedial’s attempt to liken the two attorneys to the deity. “Your Ram and the Ram I know are two completely different Rams.” Saying she had not merely visited a Ramleela event but had narrated the portrayal for 15 years, she said she understood the virtues that Lord Ram had stood for. “I understand he stood for dharma (virtue/duty). I understand he stood for truthfulness. That is the Ram of Ajodha. But the Ram the Senator referred to…”My Ram did not make $11.9 million in legal fees from 2010-2015. Maybe her Ram did that. The senator’s Ram did that!“

“…I will respectfully submit to the senator, bat in your crease!”Sagramsingh-Sooklal then said legal cases can “go anywhere” based on having astute counsel or evidence not presented in a particular way. She recalled Local Government Minister Faris Al-Rawi – as former AG – had once laid a document in Parliament saying the amalgamation of the former ministries of the AG, legal affairs and justice into the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs had resulted in a reduction in ministry expenditure from $4.58 billion under the former People’s Partnership government to $2.13 billion under this Government.

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