by Deepa BHOOKHUN

?I am going to sue you! You?re just like the Nazis!? says Tom to Dick.

Dick smiles. A little while later, ?He is a racist!? shouts Tom to Harry about Dick (talking of course, behind Dick?s back).

When Tom leaves, Harry goes back to Dick to recount what Tom has said. Dick smiles still.

The next day ? Tom, Dick and Harry sit together and pretend nothing has happened. Tom meets some friends and tells them about his indignation. Within earshot of Dick. Then he comes back and smiles broadly at Dick.

Dick smiles back.

I don?t know about you but, if I was watching some kind of movie with this story line, I promise you I would have walked out of the cinema and demanded a refund. OK, your reaction may not be as excessive as mine but surely you would have been outraged by the sheer indecency of the hypocrisy, wouldn?t you? Surely you would have been curious as to what happened to the self-respect of both Tom and Dick?

In normal circumstances ? what is normal? would you ask. Good question, one doesn?t know anymore, having lost all points of reference by now ? when two people disagree to the extent that one has started publicly abusing and insulting the other, they mutually decide to part company.

Honour, dignity and decorum demand that when one doesn?t see eye-to-eye on major issues, one either agrees to disagree or one simply packs and leaves. Right?

Politicians are not exempted from this rule. If anything, it should apply more strictly to them because their deal is not with each other but with their voters.

Eric Guimbeau has been elected on the basis of an electoral programme that consisted mainly in opposing Navin Ramgoolam & Co. Shortly afterwards, he resigns from his party, the MMM, and joins the PMSD. OK, we thought, they fought the same battle. And then, just as we thought he couldn?t surprise us anymore, he decides to dismiss his electorate?s wishes and join the Social Alliance because he wanted to give a ?hand.?

Anyhow, despite public outrage, the deal with his voters was quickly replaced by whatever deal he made with his new leader Maurice Allet and the latter with prime minister Navin Ramgoolam.

Except that Guimbeau is not on the same wavelength as Ramgoolam. Any wonder? They didn?t fight the same battle.

But usually when you decide to sell out and join somebody else, you do it the renegade way; you shut your mouth and happily nod whenever the leader speaks because clearly, if you behave yourself, you might just be rewarded for having been a turncoat.

But Guimbeau cannot seem to respect even this simple rule. Of course, he is entitled to fight his battles. But whom does he think he is fooling? One doesn?t accuse somebody of being a Nazi and a racist and then continue to play happy families with them. Well, not if one wants to be taken seriously, that is.