by Deepa BHOOKHUN

Imagine the scenario. Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and prince consort, on a political platform, urging the British public to vote for Tony Blair. It has beaten the imagination of scriptwriters so far, probably because such a scene would be unthought of. But hey, that?s Britain huh? I suppose the rules of the game are different in the ?Banana Republic?, hem? sorry, Republic of Mauritius.

Lady Sarojini Jugnauth is part of the presidential couple. That her son is running for elections is immaterial. But, not to the first lady, it seems. Lady Jugnauth decides to go and campaign for the MSM-MMM alliance. She?s a citizen of this country, she says, and she has a right to vote. No one is denying the president?s wife her civic right but, by campaigning for a political party, she is also involving an institution represented by her husband.

The same way, we condemn outright any attacks made by politicians on the president of the Republic going by the assumption that he is unable to retaliate because of the reserve associated with his office. The leader of the opposition was wrong on Monday when he inferred at a public gathering that president Jugnauth had lost his mind. But, how can one expect politicians to respect this rule when the president?s wife decides to get involved in a political campaign?

The worrying thing is that Lady Jugnauth cannot have been unaware of the repercussions of her decision. But she went ahead and did it anyway. Why? We can only speculate as to the reasons but, whatever they may be, nothing justifies the rash action. My goodness, are we in danger of putting every institution on the line in the name of politics? Haven?t we done enough harm to symbols in this country? How far are we willing to go? When will it stop?

Sir Anerood retired from politics in 2003. As he said his goodbyes in Parliament, he left us all with a feeling of gratitude for all that the man had achieved. His son is now the politician and, by all standards, he is a grown man; I?m sure he will be able to manage his political career without having to call out to mummy for help every time he feels unsure of himself. So, we are asking the presidential couple to let this country breathe, to let the bird fly. A parent may have certain duties towards his/her child but a president also has duties towards his country. This includes the president?s wife. As PM Bérenger is fond of saying, ?in the country?s higher interests?.