<B>By Pauline ETIENNE</B>

We need to change some of our habits. Bob Choolhun was dismissed from his presidency in the Moka-Flacq district council though he had been democratically elected a few days before. This was the wish of the Labour party at national level and their prayers have been answered. This may not be fair but it is certainly not to the All Rajput Common Front to take a stand in this case.

If Bob Choolhun were to be defended, it should have been on democratic principles ? but not on a caste issue. It appears that Bob Choolhun is being defended only because he is a Rajput but not because he deserved his seat in the East as a citizen or a candidate. In a constitutional state, such behaviours can?t be accepted. "Our family is united and when one member of this family has been hurt, the whole family stands up to defend him," says one of the members of the common front. Others are even thanking the dismissed candidate for allowing the unification of the Rajput family.

The Rajput would have served their "hero" if they were putting his qualities as a leader or a person who could tackle issues affecting the daily lives of inhabitants of the east. Likewise they could have protested against the fact that the party leaders at a national level had interfered into regional issues. The government has indeed put pressure on the council members to make sure the candidate of its choice would be elected. But they do in no way serve the purpose at all when their only recrimination is the fact that a Rajput has been cast aside.

The issue raised by the Bob Choolhun case is a small-scale example of what happens in politics on a larger one. The belonging to such or such a caste is one of the main criteria for a party when it chooses its candidates. And some of the latter also take advantage of this obsolete way of selection, as it guarantees them a seat they might not have won otherwise.

The castes are not taken into account in our daily lives ? and so much the better. But the question is ? why does it remain so present in political life? Such considerations belong to a former era ? or at least should belong to the past. Politics should lead the way to make sure none of us would be tempted to use such emotional arguments in the future.