Deepa BHOOKHUN

?The country is in the dark. And we must bring it to the light very soon, we must replace evil by goodness.? You get a gold star for guessing who made that statement. Go on try a guess. Paul Bérenger? No. Pravind Jugnauth? No. Nando Bodha? Wrong again. Ashock Jugnauth? No, no, no.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it was the President of the Republic of Mauritius. Give him a hand! Oh yes, SAJ is at it again. Just when we thought the people at the top had come back to their senses, SAJ decides to go and have a little bit of fun at the Hindu House at our expense.

Presumably the Hindu House people invited SAJ to their function in the latter?s capacity as President of the Republic. SAJ obliges and accepts the request to address the audience. He chooses to do so in Hindi. Why should the President of the Republic speak Hindi at a function beats me but hey. We?ll let it pass ? we don?t have much choice in any case.

Ramgoolam and Jugnauth Senior have never been friends. And their mutual dislike and distrust of each other has been a regular feature of the local political landscape. Fair enough as long as both are politicians trying to score a few political points. Except that during the electoral campaign in 2005, SAJ was holding the office of President of the Republic. And that?s not fair enough. Public opinion has reacted strongly ? and rightly so ? every time the President and his wife have attempted to campaign for their son. But to no avail, it seems.

The hostility had abated at some point, much to our relief but here it goes again. Obviously SAJ?s comments do not come unprovoked. But this is beside the point. The point is we spend a lot of time talking about good governance, about how we respect institutions and generally blowing a lot of hot air but we have a Head of State and a Head of Government constantly at loggerheads. This is fine as long as they keep their hatred or whatever it is, private.

I fail to see why SAJ went ahead and did what he did on Sunday. He wants to do a comeback in the political arena? Great, many people are waiting for just that but he can?t campaign for his son while we are paying him to be an independent President of the Republic. And he shouldn?t forget he waved the white flag in 2003. Pravind Jugnauth said at the same function that one should keep one?s promises. Too right. And charity begins at home.

Prime ministers come and go. Hopefully while they?re at it, they do the best they can. But they are politicians after all and if anything we expect them to fail us. This does not however apply to the President of the Republic. He, on the other hand, is meant to inspire and rise above petty politics.

Julius Caesar would have aptly cried disbelievingly ?Et tu SAJ?? after hearing the President of the Republic campaign for a change of government. No gold stars for that one.