The concept of ?rainbow nation? has been spoken about constantly by the politicians on each public occasion available. It is expressed how beautiful is Mauritian society where the people of different origins, cultures and religions live in harmony.

But once again on the eve of coming general election, the same political leaders are shaking the base of Mauritian society by dividing the electorate on the basis of religion, race and caste and very openly. It is crystal clear even to any Mauritian that the selection of the candidates are done not on the basis of the individual capacity and contribution to the community but on basis of the religion, race and caste he or she belongs to.

Some candidates selected on such basis appear not to have the capacity to serve the community. If we have such candidates elected to the National Assembly, one can easily imagine what kind of contribution would be made by these parliamentarians for the development of our country ?

On the other hand one may not have been given a ticket simply because one belongs to a ?minority? community in spite of the fact that the person may have high personal capacity to contribute to the community and the country.

If such kind of principles are followed in selecting candidates then it would mean that only those belonging to the ?majority? community should occupy the post of the Prime Minister.

In both cases the concept of ?rainbow nation? is far away from the reality.

In fact it appears that the political leaders look at any Mauritian not as a citizen of this country but by his or her origin in one particular religion, race or caste.

It is amazing to note that we have official list which identifies a Mauritian not only by his religion but by his caste which actually applies to the unfortunate Hindus. While the category of ?Muslim? and ?general population? have no subdivisions, the Hindus are subdivided into numerous categories like ? Tamil speaking, Mahratti speaking, Telugu speaking, Hindi speaking, etc (in reality all Mauritians speak uniformly creole) and into sub categories like vaisya, ravived and so on.

One who is well versed in Hinduism would very well know that ? caste system was originated not from ?birth? of a person but from the category of work he or she would perform. For example : the intellectuals were categorised as brahman who pursued knowledge and lived a simple life away from material world.

Selfish motive

The kshatriya were warriors who protected their country and the people fighting the enemies away and administrating the system to rule the country.

The vaisya were engaged in trade and commerce.

The sudra were engaged in ?service? giving sectors. Any thinking person would realise that in this modern age where everybody is doing everything, there cannot be anything like caste which is totally obsolete.

When it comes to dividing the Hindus into, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Mahratti, one should simply look at their country of origin ? that is India. In India, which is a huge subcontinent, there are different states like Maharasthra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, etc where due to wide geographical distance, people do have their own language and cultures but they all follow hindu religion in the same way. This applies also to different castes.

Then why the Hindus are officially divided on the basis of castes and cultures? These divisions are played very skillfully at the time of general election with the selfish motive of securing votes. It is to be noted that people belonging to other Religions are officially not subdivided; for example ? Muslims are not sub divided into ?Mahman?, ?Sunnee?, ?Surtee?, ?Hizbullah? or ?Quandiani? nor the General population is subdivided into ? ?Roman Catholics?, ?Protestants?, etc.

In my opinion, the sentiment of the Mauritian electorate should not be exploited any more on the basis of religion, race and caste but by convincing the electorate by the programme of the party, by the personal ability and capacity of each candidate to serve his or her electorate.

The official or ?non-official? statistical list of population should have divisions, if necessary, only on the basis of religion ? that is ? Hindus / Muslims /general population. The division of Hindus on the basis of caste and cultures and languages should be eliminated at any costs.

The country would benefit more if the population is divided on the basis of their ?income?. One may be surprised to find out how many of us are living in below ?poverty level? and how important it is for any government in power to sustain them and help them to live a better life. One should bear in mind that ?POVERTY? has no caste, no race, no religion.

The concept of ?rainbow nation? would be realised only when we all live as Mauritians in harmony in a society without being divided on the basis of race, religion, and caste for the benefit of the politicians to secure votes to get elected to the ?National Assembly?.

Ranjita BUNWAREE