Can somebody really say what Bérenger is up to these days? Is the man still the street-fighter of the 1970s or is he reaching his apogee?

No other politician has dominated local politics more than him and most likely nobody will mark the scenery like him in the future. From 1969 onwards to date, nearly 37 years later, the man is still around. Another 14 years and he will have had half a century of active politics under his belt.

The only Mauritian politician to have endured 12 months in jail without trial, under the then Ramgoolam and Duval coalition government of 1970. The real cause was the uprising of the masses instigated by him, which would eventually overthrow SSR in the first 60-0 win of 1982. Most of those in jail with him are no longer around and most around him today would never dare to walk on the razor?s edge like him.

Over the years, Bérenger has withstood all sorts of adversities. He took regular beatings by the police. He went on hunger strikes for the working class in the transport and sugar sector and particularly the harbour. His obsession with perfection and fighting for the poor and vulnerable turned him into a new messiah. They called him Moses at one point.

He drove the MMM from the street to the National assembly changing his leather jacket for the suit. But every time he would be the charioteer just bringing a new passenger to Government House and departing for a spell in the wilderness of the opposition. He is the only man to have committed the same mistake three times and not to have learnt any lesson in the process.

The new generation that voted for Ramgoolam hardly knows the feats of Bérenger and his sacrifices. The only picture they have of him is the white man, who betrayed the poor, which was photographically well illustrated in the last campaign as ?cet homme a trahi ? this man has betrayed?. This slogan appealed also to some of those who had followed Berenger blindly since 1970s. From the new ?Moses? he became the ?man who betrayed?.

For the first time in his career, Bérenger seems to have lost initiatives. He was a man who liked to dominate everything on the local scene. Today events are taking him over. Over time he has created such a vacuum around him, that no one dares give him any advice for fear of being rebuked. It is not easy to become an ordinary citizen, after having been prime minister.

SAJ and Navin Ramgoolam also went through this ordeal. However, unlike them, Bérenger seems to have lost the ability to pounce back. After the 2005 municipal elections, he parted ways amicably with the MSM and the PMSD to re-organise his party. Eric Guimbeau defected to the PMSD and the PMSD is now flirting with the government.

In Parliament, the MMM is outnumbered by the MSM. Although Bérenger is leader of the opposition, one can ask whether he is acting as such or as acting leader of opposition ? at the beck and call of the MSM majority. Who could have imagined Bérenger stepping into the Sun Trust Building one day? Yet he did it. Who could have imagined Bérenger being treated as a vulgar liar in politics? Yet he endured it. Who could have imagined that the MMM would be so divided on the issue of the Jugnauth family? One faction with Ashock, the other with Pravind. Yet Bérenger is living with it.

<B>At the crossroads</B>

This is again Bérenger?s own doing. Pravind outsmarted him at the negotiation table for the 2005 elections. Who advises Bérenger these days? Can somebody really advise him? Who is the messenger who will dare bring him the news?

Bérenger and the MMM are at the crossroads today. Pravind Jugnauth wants more than his pound of flesh from the MMM. Ashock Jugnauth who cherishes to become the next PM, expects Bérenger to be his charioteer. He will surely not want to go into history as a traitor to the Jugnauths unless Bérenger ignites the next bomb, that is, resigns as leader of opposition and leaves it to the MSM to appoint a new person in the chair.

Why did Bérenger publicly announce his eventual stepping down and then retract? Undoubtedly, from then on, Pravind Jugnauth and his MSM have put him on the run and are now extorting more than their pound of flesh from him. Bérenger is caught at his own game. Should he resign and gain his independence to continue his mission with no attachments at all or will he still hold grip on the post of the leader of the opposition and suffer humiliations at their hands, while Ramgoolam makes deeper incursions into the MMM Creole vote bank also?

Will anybody tell Bérenger what he has to do? Is there any such person in the MMM who can really think of the future? Are they so mesmerised by events that they cannot see the looming disaster ahead?

Ramgoolam has rallied the Hindus to his cause and very cunningly hoodwinked a good chunk of the Muslim electorate to join his ?winning formula?. He is now out to conquer what is left of the MMM?s residual hardcore electorate. Will he succeed is one question. Will Bérenger and the MMM be passive spectators of their own demise?

Berenger was 61 years old last week. His party will be 37 years old in September. The MMM has established itself as a solid institution, which even time will not be able to dilute. But the party and its leaders are walking on the razor?s edge. Of all the ordeals endured by the MMM, this might be the last straw that breaks its back. A lot of courage and hard work awaits those who aspire to lead this party in the future. The work starts now and not when Bérenger might no longer be around.

<B>OBSERVER</B>