Breaking the silence
- By The Rambler
- Published 8th February, 2008
The Leader of the MMM, as also of the Opposition, Paul Bérenger, had chosen not to give any press interview for the past couple of years. He came out of his voluntary hibernation last week by talking to Week-End's Jean-Claude Antoine.
Asked the whys and wherefores of his two-year detachment from the local press, he said that if he didn't talk individually to the press people, that didn't mean that he was keeping aloof. On the contrary, he has been meeting the press collectively on a weekly basis and answering their questions, contrary to the Prime Minister.
He also said that he preferred talking all his time and choose the right moment to give interviews. “Too many people talk to say nothing,” he declared. “ They have nothing to say and say it”. For two years Berenger had nothing to say and he didn't say it.
It seems that suddenly he's got things to say, and as a responsible Leader of the Opposition, he didn't fail to accuse the Prime Minister as being responsible for all the ills in which the country is engulfed. “ Ramgoolam is playing a dangerous game,”he said. “ On the one hand, he has weakened the police force, and baffled the authority of the Police Commissioner, and on the other, he has given his official public blessing and financial support to a communal group which has taken the law in its own hands”.
Very reassuring for law and order, this statement of the Leader of the Opposition. Such declarations, coming from the mouths of such highly responsible people, go a very long way indeed towards consolidating peace, social harmony, communal understanding and integration, and specially preserving law and order in the country.
By the way, Bérenger didn't mention the name of the criminal to whom the Prime Minister had given money to enable him
to flee to Madagascar to escape Mauritian justice.
Wanted : A miracle
In his famous interview, Paul Bérenger, while damning the Prime Minister for the problems that Mauritians are facing, does not forget to point out that the few good things now happening had been initiated by the MMM while that party was in power with the MSM.
Bérenger also betrays a monumental naïvete on his part when he confesses that it is only now that he has discovered that “ Navin Ramgoolam's aim in seeking an alliance with the MMM in 1995 was solely to venge his father’s defeat in 1982”. Well better late than never,one would be tempted to say. But to stumble on such a truth 13 long years after the event is a bit too much, isn't it? Especially when it was hardly veiled.
But Béreger is Bérenger, and he is made of a particular stuff. In the same way, he says he did not know that he was going to be beaten at the last election, and was expecting to be back at the head of the government.
He is now desperately in search of a partner for the next election to be held in two years. But he is ruling out both the Labour Party and the MSM for the time being. On the other hand, he is waiting for the wrath of the MMM diehards to die down against Ramjuttun.
Maybe he is waiting for such a moment to invite Ramjuttun to stage a comeback close to his heart, together with Dayal. Ashock Jugnauth is an acquired leaf. But his dream win-win team seems to be one which would be made up of himself and Sir Anerood Jugnauth minus Pravind. And he is sitting back and waiting for miracles to happen. He says he is prepared to wait till the last minute as in 2000.
In the mean time, Sir Anerood Jugnauth may well see himself offered a second lease at Réduit, and Labour helping Pravind Jugnauth win his uncle’s lost seat in constituency No 8.
Asked the whys and wherefores of his two-year detachment from the local press, he said that if he didn't talk individually to the press people, that didn't mean that he was keeping aloof. On the contrary, he has been meeting the press collectively on a weekly basis and answering their questions, contrary to the Prime Minister.
He also said that he preferred talking all his time and choose the right moment to give interviews. “Too many people talk to say nothing,” he declared. “ They have nothing to say and say it”. For two years Berenger had nothing to say and he didn't say it.
It seems that suddenly he's got things to say, and as a responsible Leader of the Opposition, he didn't fail to accuse the Prime Minister as being responsible for all the ills in which the country is engulfed. “ Ramgoolam is playing a dangerous game,”he said. “ On the one hand, he has weakened the police force, and baffled the authority of the Police Commissioner, and on the other, he has given his official public blessing and financial support to a communal group which has taken the law in its own hands”.
Very reassuring for law and order, this statement of the Leader of the Opposition. Such declarations, coming from the mouths of such highly responsible people, go a very long way indeed towards consolidating peace, social harmony, communal understanding and integration, and specially preserving law and order in the country.
By the way, Bérenger didn't mention the name of the criminal to whom the Prime Minister had given money to enable him
Wanted : A miracle
In his famous interview, Paul Bérenger, while damning the Prime Minister for the problems that Mauritians are facing, does not forget to point out that the few good things now happening had been initiated by the MMM while that party was in power with the MSM.
Bérenger also betrays a monumental naïvete on his part when he confesses that it is only now that he has discovered that “ Navin Ramgoolam's aim in seeking an alliance with the MMM in 1995 was solely to venge his father’s defeat in 1982”. Well better late than never,one would be tempted to say. But to stumble on such a truth 13 long years after the event is a bit too much, isn't it? Especially when it was hardly veiled.
But Béreger is Bérenger, and he is made of a particular stuff. In the same way, he says he did not know that he was going to be beaten at the last election, and was expecting to be back at the head of the government.
He is now desperately in search of a partner for the next election to be held in two years. But he is ruling out both the Labour Party and the MSM for the time being. On the other hand, he is waiting for the wrath of the MMM diehards to die down against Ramjuttun.
Maybe he is waiting for such a moment to invite Ramjuttun to stage a comeback close to his heart, together with Dayal. Ashock Jugnauth is an acquired leaf. But his dream win-win team seems to be one which would be made up of himself and Sir Anerood Jugnauth minus Pravind. And he is sitting back and waiting for miracles to happen. He says he is prepared to wait till the last minute as in 2000.
In the mean time, Sir Anerood Jugnauth may well see himself offered a second lease at Réduit, and Labour helping Pravind Jugnauth win his uncle’s lost seat in constituency No 8.
