by Deepa BHOOKHUN

We have just won one battle. Yes, this is exactly what it is despite the fact that the Supreme Court judgment is being downplayed by politicians and media in general. We now have the right not to be outcasts any more; we can all be Mauritians. Since 1968, the Mauritian people have been officially classified according to their ?way of life?- to all intents and purposes, ?way of life? meant their ancestral origins and religion. A fact, an ignominy, that politicians have exploited since they first set foot on the newly independent political front. As far back as then, there has been a group of people who have fought this, who have fought the disparity in the classification of Mauritians, who have fought the exploitation of religion for political gains, who have fought to be recognized simply as Mauritians, who have argued that their ?way of life? was simply?Mauritian. And who have argued that such a classification only accentuated what is termed as communalism. At long last, they have won.

One of those people who lead, this battle is our prime minister. That was some 30 odd years ago. Today Mr Berenger can only qualify the historic ruling of the Supreme Court as ? very interesting.? Only just interesting Mr prime minister? Oh what am I talking about? In his ruling, judge Balancy says it is ?really unfortunate that judge Seetulsingh?s hope as at 8 September 2000, that the ?defects would be remedied in the near future? having regard to the project of electoral reform which was ?on the cards? has remained a pious wish and no improvement has, up to now, been brought about.? No comments Mr prime minister, none whatsoever, we?ll just leave you with your conscience.

Minister for Tourism Anil Gayan said the judgment was wrong. Well it?s a good thing everything is not left to politicians, isn?t it then? Comments from the Alliance sociale have been positive albeit lukewarm. It is to be noted that while they approve, they have done nothing to help in this direction. For those who are proposing a change of life, society and mentality, this is the kind of challenges that the ?new? society will need; this is exactly where it should start.

So as most candidates are rejoicing about having been given a chance to run for elections based on whether they are ?creole?, ?Vaish?, ?baboojee?, ?surtee? or whatever other stupid classification, some of us are rejoicing that we will never again have to bow down to archaic laws and have to write ?hindu? or whatever next to the question entitled religion. The next battle is of course to eradicate religion completely from public life, to take it back to where it belongs; in private. All in good time I suppose. But in the meantime let?s rejoice for the step ahead that has been made. For this, we say thank you to the people from Lalit who have showed the way and to Mr Subron who has won us this victory. We owe you one, guys.