By the time you read this, you will be thankful that the municipal elections are over and that you will not have to hear the politicians participating in the campaign any more.

The Ramgoolam Broadcasting Corporation lived up to its despicable level in terms of fairness and democratic principles. But we can forgive them as they are devoid of any sense about what a national broadcasting station is expected to do. If only they could occasionally watch the show ‘‘Les Guignols’’ on Canal + TV, they would hopefully understand what a modern TV station does.

What, however, is unforgivable is for the Prime Minister to conduct himself as anything but a head of Government. Depending on where he was speaking, he had different rhetoric. At Plaine-Verte, he said things which were clearly designed to inflame the audience against his opponents and this was dutifully – or should I say slavishly – aired on the TV station. What he uttered at Plaine-Verte would not go down well at Palma and he changed his language. Yet, he and others with him still have the brazenness to proclaim Mauritius as a land where equality reigns and where there is no difference made among the various constituent elements of the Mauritian nation. In fact, what this campaign has shown is that there is no such thing as a “Mauritian nation’’. Balkanisation, demonization and division are the main elements of the programme of the Prime Minister. The targeting of the audience and ‘‘les reunions ciblées’’ are an affront to us all and it is really disheartening that most of today’s politicians find such ‘‘réunions ciblées’’ normal. There can be nothing more abnormal than such meetings and, when the time comes for the general elections, I hope that the electorate will noisily condemn them and all those who are instrumental in organizing them.

In an electoral campaign, why should some people belonging to a particular community not hear what the politicians are saying to other communities? When we know that the barriers of caste and community have been dismantled by the sheer force of ordinary people, these politicians are hankering after a past which should for ever remain in the past. There is no caste or ethnic purity in any group in Mauritius and it is perfectly in order that this should be.

So, as this is the way to construct a Mauritian nation.

At the time of writing, the election results are not out. Whatever they are and whichever Alliance wins, it is obvious that there is a mood in the country that the era of scandals has lasted too long and that the pretensions of the Labour Party, that it owns the country and can do with it and us whatever comes to the Primeministerial head, must stop. The vacuity of the statements made by the Prime Minister, for example, about the handcuffed Bangaleea who wears a permanent smile on his face tells a great deal about the quality of his leadership.

Others can say whatever they want, but a Prime Minister represents something else and, as an illustrious author said: ‘‘If gold rusts, what will iron do?’’

This article was due to appear on
Monday 10th December.