Press Trust of India

Pot of Spain, July 7: After several years of legal battles at different levels, Trinidad and Tobago will get its first 'Hindu' radio station.

The move comes after the British Privy Council ordered the government to give the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS) led by Satnarayan Maharaj a radio licence "forthwith."

The Law Lords ruled that "an appropriate frequency to be agreed with by the Central Broadcasting Services (CBS) Ltd, or in default of agreement, to be determined by the High Court."

The state was also ordered to pay the SDMS costs of brining its appeal to the Privy Council and those incurred.

The station will be the first radio facility "promoting" Hinduism in the Caribbean nation, which has a population of over 300,000 Hindus.

Meanwhile, Maharaj has called on Prime Minister Patrick Manning to appoint a commission of inquiry into the process by which the organisation was finally granted its broadcasting licence.

"The drama is now beginning to unfold. We are not satisfied merely with this judgment," he said, and claimed that the "treatment meted out to the Maha Sabha was consistent to that against the Hindu and East Indian community if they did not support the ruling People's National Movement."