One so-called Vaish movement has put-up a show during the weekend.

When the coolies came to Mauritius in the 19th century, no one declared Vaish as his or her jati (community) at the landing station that later came to be known under the embellished name of Aapravasi Ghat. Jati then meant one from a long list of sub-castes and religious communities, ranging from Koyri to Mussalman, from Kahar to Kurmi, from dhobi to Dussad.
 
The sense of belonging to a larger community of Vaish superseding the restricted categorisation as sub-castes developed in the second half of the 20th century when jati endogamy became almost impossible to enforce. 

The inability to practice endogamy was not a new phenomenon in Mauritian Hindu and Muslim society. Bengali and Orissa immigrants were properly assimilated into the wider Bihari community because they could no longer sustain their identity through endogamous marriage. The Bihari Muslims have assimilated Muslim immigrants from other parts of India, excepting those hailing from Gujarat who have managed to keep a separate identity. Likewise, a shrinking endogamous marriage pool and accelerated Creolisation have helped in blurring caste distinctions among Mauritian Tamils. 

 The assimilative capacity of this new Vaish entity is best illustrated by the admission into the family of the borderline jatis of teli (oil maker), dhobi (washerman) and nav (barber). 

If the assimilative capacity of the new Vaish community was at first just a social engineering phenomenon, it became a political issue in the 1960s. So far, the Vaish had taken comfort in the fact that one of theirs (Dr Seewoosagur Ramgoolam) was the real boss at Government House. However, the perception that State patronage was being dispensed mainly to the Baboojees and the Brahmins started creating resentment among the Vaish. That jobs and scholarships were being dished out to the Baboojees and Brahmins became a battle slogan. 

Resentment gave rise to strong political advocacy. The political muscle power of the Vaish was spectacularly displayed in 1963 when Anerood Jugnauth,  a young Vaish professional, convincingly defeated Aunauth Beejadhur, a Labour icon,  in Rivière du Rempart. By defeating Beejadhur, the Vaish had made a bold political statement. They continued nevertheless to support Ramgoolam. Until 1982.

In 1982, it goes to the credit of French White Paul Bérenger for mounting the biggest Vaish political coup of all time. Indeed in 1982, with Bérenger as cheerleader, Mauritius unseated Ramgoolam by electing another Vaish as new Prime Minister and – icing on the cake! – still a Vaish as Deputy Prime Minister. 

1982 was an overkill but it vindicated the claim that the No 1 slot in the nation be best considered a Vaish exclusivity. The next General Election will tell whether the Vaish are still a potent political force. Bérenger will be the focus, either as a 1982-type facilitator or a punching bag.