Bonzai Bharat

On a map, Mauritius appears as a barely discernible dot in the Indian Ocean. It takes a little over three hours to reach continental Africa by air, and about six hours to reach India. This isolation from the land mass impacts every aspect of life, often in ways that unhinge an Indian visitor. Official rhetoric extols the diversity and pluralism of Mauritian society.A large majority of the population — estimated at around 65 per cent — is of Indian origin. They include descendants of indentured labour from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, Tamils, Telugus, Marathis and Muslims. Chinese add up to some 3 per cent, whites of French descent half that figure and the last are placed in the 'general population' category, which includes Creoles, black Africans and people of mixed blood. Each community celebrates its festivals and upholds its cultural traditions with gusto. Politicians continuously turn up at such event and hold forth on the need to keep in one piece the 'identity' of every social group to enrich the national identity. However, in daily life, the story is somewhat different. The geographical isolation of Mauritius appears to have pushed every community here towards demarcating itself from another. The demarcation is not between the origins of Hindus and Muslims alone. Tamils, Telugus and Marathis are barely, if ever, referred to as Hindus at all. That nomenclature is reserved for North Indians. But the latter are sharply divided along caste lines. Each caste operates its own network in almost every walk of public life. Other communities also thrive on networking of a similar sort. The Franco-Mauritians, for example, continue, as they did in the pre-independence era, to control the reins of the economy. They live in exclusive residential areas, frequent exclusive schools and clubs and marry among themselves. To the chagrin of many Mauritians, such fragmentation is expected to be in full view during the campaign for the general election scheduled to be held on July 3. Two major alliances are in the fray — one led by the outgoing PM, Paul Birenger, a Franco-Mauritian and the other by the Labour Party head, Dr Navin Ramgoolam, an Indo-Mauritian. The former is all set to harp on its achievements in office while the latter is equally determined to pooh-pooh these claims. But much of this is for the public record. In reality, each side fears that the other will conduct a brazenly 'communal' campaign. Things have come to this pass because for the first time since independence the country has had a non-Hindu PM. The ruling alliance is convinced that the opposition will exploit racial sentiments to the hilt to consolidate the Hindu vote. The Labour Party, in turn, argues that it is Paul Birenger who has systematically flirted with the most retrograde elements of all communities and divided each one of them to consolidate his power much as the British did in India. However, both alliances claim to be working for national unity, a claim that has few serious takers. It is too early in the day to speculate about the outcome of the poll. The choice of candidates, and to a lesser extent, the policies spelt out in the manifestos will go some way to shape opinions. But the clinching argument is of another order altogether: is the majority community prepared to accept a non-Hindu as PM for another two-and-a half years? (Birenger will cede his position to his deputy, Pravind Jugnauth, for the rest of the term.) And this regardless of the ruling alliance's real or claimed success in office. For whatever it is worth, one indication of the emerging mood came last Thursday when an influential body of Hindus formally announced its support for the Labour Party.