by Deepa BHOOKHUN

Exactly a year ago we went to the polls to choose a new government. Out went the old one and in came a new one. Incidentally, Pravind Jugnauth, the Mouvement socialiste militant (MSM) leader, was not elected. A year on, the man seems hell-bent on not heeding any lessons learned from the past.

During his press conference last Saturday, the MSM leader talks dismissingly of former partner Paul Bérenger and of ?grofey? (this is Pravind?s new nickname for his uncle, Ashock Jugnauth.)

For those of you who don?t know what the term ?grofey? means, let me try and explain. The term that literally means ?big leaf? has been crudely and pejoratively used over the years to qualify a person of coarse appearance. Beauty being in the eyes of the beholder, I am certainly not commenting but merely explaining what people mean and understand by the term. And obviously the people who use this term to qualify another person, based solely on his or her physical appearance, are usually endowed with some illusionary sense of their own superiority-physical as well as intellectual no doubt. Which would explain the haughtiness with which they look down on others.

Politicians have used the term in the past to describe non other than Sir Anerood Jugnauth, a man who has lived to be a brilliant prime minister, the same man who is Pravind Jugnauth?s father. Today, Mister Pravind Jugnauth, embittered that his uncle has left his party, holds press conferences to call a former fellow member of his party, ?grofey.?

Besides the fact that a number of electors in this country would qualify for the term ?grofey? (if one chooses to adopt the ?modern? Pravind?s new way of thinking) - those same people whose support Pravind Jugnauth is meant to be on a mission to win, personal abuse of this sort especially coming from a leader of a political party, a man who aspires to run this country is utterly unacceptable. And Pravind Jugnauth who obviously fancies himself as a refined specimen of humankind should know this. Else what?s the point of not being a ?grofey? ?

We have all seen posters with the face of Ashock Jugnauth, plastered on every available surface all over the country with the caption ?grofey? beneath the face of the MSM dissident member. I am assuming the posters are illegal. I am also assuming seeing that Pravind Jugnauth openly uses the term to qualify his uncle that the MSM is behind this disgusting move. I apologise to the MSM if I am wrong but they will surely forgive me for linking the two incidents. In this case, don?t the police people think they should investigate the matter? And put a stop to the public humiliation of a public figure? Is this what we call a country where the rule of law is supreme?

I have one question for Pravind Jugnauth. If his father is a ?grofey? and if his uncle is a ?grofey?, then what in heaven?s name does that make him?