Kamna Kumar 
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad has hit back at criticism that he has turned his back on Indo-Fijians, calling such claims “nasty race-based politics.”
Professor Prasad says some politicians and media organizations are trying to stir racial division by targeting him because he is an Indo-Fijian and the leader of the National Federation Party.
“This is the politics of race that the Voreqe Bainimarama and Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum government played for many years. This is the same kind of politics that some other politicians who are hovering around outside of parliament now want to create this idea of race.”
Professor Prasad also defended the government’s merit-based scholarship system, saying it replaced previous schemes that were ethnically based.
He stresses that government assistance benefits all Fijians regardless of ethnicity.
“When we gave the highest cane price to the sugar cane farmers, who are the majority of the sugar cane farmers in this country? When we give $200 each back to school support, you don’t miss out because you are iTaukei or you are an Indo-Fijian. When we talk about subsidies to dalo, rice, and ginger farmers, we don’t look at how many Indo-Fijian farmers there are or how many iTaukei farmers there are. When we increase the social welfare allowances, it’s not about Indo-Fijians not getting it or iTaukei not getting it.”
Professor Prasad is urging his political opponents to stop using race to mislead the public, saying government policies are focused on improving the lives of all citizens equally.
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