In the 1950s, in the flush of enthusiasm to conquer voters? hearts, emerging politicians conducted politics by mobilizing people on the ?self-government? agenda where issues like nationalization, poverty and richness etc. were aggressive rhetoric and dominated political discourse. It was not only ideology but much more charisma that made politicians win their elections. Guy Rozemont, leader of the Labour party, was one of those charismatic politicians and a legendary figure who gave the Labour party a fresh lease of life when the party was on the verge of extinction in 1946. His death on 23 March 1956, at the young age of 41, not only robbed the Labour party of an invaluable asset but also dramatically changed the political landscape.

?It was Rozemont who bolstered the Labour party back in the limelight and led that party to a resounding victory in the 1948 general elections. He was fearless and harsh in his dealing with the British officials. He regarded most of them as incompetent and fought hard for Mauritians to take up jobs done by British officials.?

The Labour party was going through bad times after the crackdown unleashed by the Colonial government. During the time of Emmanuel Anquetil who succeeded Maurice Curé in 1941 at the leadership, it seemed as if the government had administered a sleeping pill to the Labour party though Anquetil remained very much devoted to the cause of trade-unionism until his death in December 1946. A party largely dominated by working class creoles then, Labour clinched its choice on Rozemont for the leadership in 1947 after a proposal came from Maurice Curé. It was Rozemont who bolstered the Labour party back in the limelight and led that party to a resounding victory in the 1948 general elections. He was fearless and harsh in his dealing with the British officials. He regarded most of them as incompetent and fought hard for Mauritians to take up jobs done by British officials.

With Sookdeo Bissoondoyal, another fiery politician joining the anti-British chorus, one could well imagine the fireworks taking place in the Council. Rozemont was ?unmanageable? according to a report reaching the Colonial office in London. His trade-union activities and his unpredictable actions worried the government. Like all militants in those days, he was suspected of having close ties with the Communists who were then much dreaded as terrorists are today.

After the general elections of 1948, the independent group led by Dr Seewoosagur Ramgoolam and the Labour party?s elected members cobbled an alliance to operate on the same wavelength. Ramgoolam took the lead of what came to be known as the ?Parliamentary Labour party?. That was indeed a wise move by Ramgoolam who had the knack of seeing far beyond his nose. He started donning the mantle of a leader in the Council. Ramgoolam?s rapprochement with Rozemont ended up in another significant move. In 1952, Ramgoolam was officially a member of the Labour party as announced at a public meeting held at Plaza in Rose-Hill. The ?loup? had come in the ?bergerie,? warned the Conservative press on Ramgoolam joining the Labour party. Some picked up despatches from London alluding to Ramgoolam being considered the ?true leader? of the Labour party and kept provoking Rozemont in editorials that he was nothing but a mere puppet.

The holy alliance sewn between Rozemont and Ramgoolam though projecting a Creole-Hindu combination was to spur the Labour party to new heights. Ramgoolam made his entry in Labour followed by a cohort of intellectuals of the Indian and coloured population. A torrent of acerb criticism then descended on Rozemont for opening the door wide open to a new crop of politicians at the expense of working class creoles. At some point in time, for example, Maurice Curé openly blamed Rozemont for his conduct and for ?mal-administering? the party. According to Pandit Sahadeo, Rozemont fell in the hands of a bunch of ?mauvais banne? and even before that, there was a friction between Anquetil and Rozemont.

According to Curé, Anquetil on his deathbed had asked not to see Rozemont when the latter paid him a visit. Quarrel with Dr Edgar Millien also flared up when for the 1948 elections in Port-Louis, Millien in his newspaper, L?Oeuvre, exhorted the voters of Port-Louis to abstain from giving their votes to Rozemont. Millien and Rozemont were both competing to win over Creoles to their cause. It was Rozemont who had the edge. Yet, the friendship with Ramgoolam and to a large extent with Bissoondoyal was all the more perfect.

Besides, having to face discontent within his own party, Rozemont was severely taken to task for this alliance with Ramgoolam by the anti-Labour elements as well. For example, Guy d?Arifat of the Parti mauricien, as reported by Le Cernéen, treated Rozemont as ?un ivrogne, un sale vagabond, un sale traître du fait qu?il s?est allié au Dr Ramgoolam, un nationaliste hindou??

But ill health had started taking its toll of the flamboyant leader of the Labour party. He had to be admitted in a London hospital when he went to attend the Constitutional conference in 1955. He did not recover from the illness. On 23 March 1956, he breathed his last.

Rozemont?s death significantly altered the political landscape with lasting repercussions.

First, the Labour party itself was severely bruised. The large Creole supporters of Rozemont had started deserting the Labour party and were in search of an identity. Seeneevassen wrote to Harold Walter in Paris urging him to rush to Mauritius in a bid to hold together the wavering Rozemont?s supporters. In the opposite camp, the Franco-Mauritian elements of the Parti mauricien identified a young lawyer, Gaëtan Duval, to step in the slot left by Rozemont. Duval was to be tested in a Port-Louis municipal elections. Walter was also making his political debut. Guy Forget, president of the Labour party compared Duval to Enigmatique, a horse which used to stop half way in a race. Duval was defeated in his first electoral fray in Port-Louis. He was again defeated in Curepipe in 1959 but as fate would have it, the wrong spelling by the elected Labour candidate, Romriky Ramsamy of his name on the candidature form, got the Court to annul the election (1959) and in the by-election that followed, Duval scored a scintillating victory, establishing him as the new rising star of Mauritian politics. Duval became the darling of the general population overnight and the Labour party could not stem the flow of Rozemont?s supporters now switching their allegiance to Duval.

That strategy was well stage-managed by the PMSD. Walter, a fine intellectual, spoke eloquently but had difficulty garnering the support of the general population despite a victorious debut in politics. He was also not seen in good light in the party and his appointment to a ministerial function in 1959 was opposed by a faction within the Labour party but Ramgoolam came to his rescue when he told those claiming Walter?s head to ?sack me first.?

Second, the death of Rozemont gave Ramgoolam absolute freedom to forge an alliance with Abdul Razack Mohamed who was then hunting with the Parti mauricien. Mohamed had an abiding admiration for Koenig. He wished there were ?thousands of Jules Koenig born?? But Rozemont during his lifetime hated Mohamed as much as Mohamed hated Rozemont. To side track Mohamed, the newspaper Advance warned the voters of Port-Louis in 1953 they would be committing ?une grave erreur en votant pour Mohamed??

Rozemont?s death brought Ramgoolam and Mohamed together. They now discovered that their political horoscopes were matching and their fates were to be sealed together ?until death doth us part?. Both had fallen apart in the 50s and were doing snipers? works at each other. The reunification brought back old memories. They remembered having both signed a memorandum with other petitioners in 1946 claiming ?independence? to free the ?Indo-Mauritians? from the domineering clutches of the whites.

Guess what course history would have taken had Rozemont lived another decade or so?