Lex

Points to Ponder

The MMM’s Sour Grapes

A First Point: Now that this matter as to who approached whom for an alliance, between the MMM and the Labour Party, has been cleared, we can now say who was bluffing on the matter. Paul Bérenger wanted a political alliance with the Labour Party, he contacted Navin Ramgoolam. Navin Ramgoolam wanted to know what was on the mind of Paul Bérenger and he met Paul Bérenger on three different occasions; they had discussions but there was no agreement. Paul Bérenger broke off all discussions that could have led to a coalition, and he so announced to the public.

Politics… Mauritius is now fully engaged in the political process which would lead to the general election in less than one month’s time. The suspense was becoming unbearable because the parties in the opposition, especially the MMM, were trying to set the agenda of the Alliance Sociale according to their views of how the political landscape should be in the near future.

When Paul Bérenger failed, he started blaming Navin Ramgoolam and Pravind Jugnauth for his failure. When a politician is not successful in his quests, he tends to find scapegoats and, in this case, a readymade scapegoat was easily available in the shape of Pravind Jugnauth. Well, now it’s the case of the sour grapes, if you understand what I mean. Or that an alliance with the Labour Party is not worth it.

The MMM is back with its former friends, the Union Nationale and the MMSD. And of course it will have by its side Cassam Uteem, the former President of the Republic, Madun Dulloo, the former Minister of External Affairs of the Alliance Sociale government and of course Dinesh Ramjuttun, the former advisor of the Prime Minister. Madun Dulloo, when he was Minister in the Alliance Sociale government, put himself in the situation where he could no longer continue as Minister, that is to say he wanted to be revoked and his wish was granted. He then joined the MMM. Would Madun Dulloo be given the post of Prime Minister in the unlikely situation we would find the MMM forming the next government? I sincerely do not think so, just the thought of it cannot arise, not even for half a term. It does not look like he will be the Deputy Prime Minister either. Poor Madun Dulloo, I feel like saying.

The smaller parties and the independent politicians seem to have been caught unawares; they are not yet ready to join in the electoral fray. Would they be able to provide some political entertainment during the hard days of campaigning? I wonder. But it is not fair on us that the extreme left mini-parties, the crazy parties, the independents with funny names and those so-called politicians who can get about 200 votes but who think that they will for sure influence a majority of the electors in a constituency and win the day. They form part of our electoral folklore and they contribute in our democratic set-up.

In so far as the Labour Party-MSM-PMSD alliance is concerned, people are saying the Labour Party has been overgenerous and that 12 tickets to the MSM would have sufficed. People recall that the MSM allowed the Labour Party only 12 tickets in 1983, yet the Labour Party has today allowed the MSM 18 tickets. Anyway, that is done and cannot now be undone. However, the MSM cannot insist that its candidates be given the choicest constituencies. They must accept the constituencies they are allocated to, if not, their insistence will be the cause of their future misfortune. Let us hope that the MSM will be reasonable in its demands, including ministerial portfolios.

I heard Vishnu Lutchmeenaraidoo saying that the only person who has the capacity to be the Prime Minister of Mauritius is Paul Bérenger. Which means to say, according to him, that no other Mauritian, of any community whatsoever, has the capacity to lead the country. Has he followed the manner in which the country has been governed during the past five years, when the whole world was going through the financial crisis? Has he read about and listened to the opinion of experts in the economic field as to how well our government managed to ride over the crisis? Does he agree with their various opinions or does he think that he knows better than those experts?

According to Vishnu Lutchmeenaraidoo all those experts do not know what they are talking about. If he thinks that Paul Bérenger is the best, that is his personal opinion, and we cannot change his mind. If he wants to take Paul Bérenger to be his guru, such is not the case with others and I can say that there are many better politicians around us. My idea is that Vishnu Lutchmeenaraidoo and Paul Bérenger form the sole members of the only mutual admiration society in Mauritius.

DPM: Why not an MMM pur sang?

A Second Point: Politics again… We know that Paul Bérenger has said that he will be the MMM candidate for the post of Prime Minister and that if the MMM-UN-MMSD alliance would win the election, he will be the Prime Minister for the full term of five years. But now we are being told that such an arrangement is not quite true, the prime ministership could be shared, but with whom, we are not told. And the persons who are queuing up for that post should be Vishnu Lutchmeenaraidoo, Madun Dulloo, Ashock Jugnauth, Dinesh Ramjuttun, Steeve Obeegadoo and Pradeep Jeeha. But only two of these persons are being considered for that post, namely Ashock Jugnauth and Madun Dulloo. And one of these two persons is being considered for the post of Deputy Prime Minister.

Now the question is, and it is being put to those who talk big about communalism, whether there is no pur sang MMM who can be given such a post? Is the MMM not playing the communal game? Besides, is Madun Dulloo not considered to be a transfuge, who has recently joined the ranks of the MMM? And how is it that all those so-called independent journalists, be it of the written press or of the private radio channels, cannot see what is being done by the MMM? I know that at one time or another, those journalists and broadcasters were members of the MMM, and they learnt their lesson in the MMM school. It is not surprising that they are now practising what they learnt from their guru.

I have said that Dinesh Ramjuttun and Sham Mathura cannot be the MMM candidates in the same constituency for obvious reasons. I am quite sure that one of them will have to move to some other constituency or will simply not be given a ticket. Who would that be Dinesh Ramjuttun or Sham Mathura? The MMM surely likes one of them and detests the other. Let us wait, we shall soon know.

LEX