The latest fruit from the poisoned tree to land heavily on our heads was an incident waiting to happen, as it merely followed a long series of criminal acts caused by Neanderthals who have been encouraged to believe the absolute nonsense that is so evocative in their favourite, anti democratic expression: gouvernman dan nou la main. This particular fruit has been carefully nurtured by all the major political parties and the only thing more nauseating than the raw filth flowing from the sewer drains of the Voice of Hindu to justify their latest act of violence is the deeply hypocritical, self serving lament from the leaders of our main political parties who have tolerated, mollycoddled, and protected every idiot under the sun claiming that God is on his side.

It does baffle me that patently intelligent people either governing or hoping to govern Paradise Island can allow their basic principles of humanity and fairness to be so ruthlessly and blatantly violated by individuals whose freedom depends not on obedience to the laws of the land but to the obscene protection afforded them by whichever party is in government whenever they break the law. When will politicians realize that the average citizen respects individuals with an unshakeable belief that we live in an Etat de Droit, and views with contempt any idiot trying to circumvent the truth with pious declarations of intent that stand in stark contrast to his actual behaviour?

Let us start with the Prime Minister. I have often commented on his impressive leap to political maturity during this mandate from his rather awkward, tentative demeanour during his first stint in power. He now exudes the aura of a true statesman especially during his trips abroad when he meets world leaders. It is therefore terribly unfortunate that it took him five long days to come forward with any reaction to the desecration of democracy perpetrated by the numbskulls of the Voice of Hindu at Candos Hospital.

I agree entirely with his view that there is a world of difference between law and order and criminality; it is simply wrong to ascribe any individual act of criminality to some perceived weaknesses in the government or the police force. The only person responsible for the hideous murder of his wife, his partner, or his drinking friend is the perpetrator and no one else; likewise, the animal who rapes his daughter/step daughter, acquaintance, or any woman minding her own business, is solely responsible for the act of brutality that will stain the victim's consciousness until her dying days. Opposition politicians will of course shout from the roof tops that these crimes are entirely due to the failure of government to effectively control the law and order situation, whilst conveniently forgetting the fact that these crimes were also very much in evidence when they themselves were last in power.

However, individual crimes of passion, of loss of self control, or crimes stemming from some perverted impulse to inflict pain and suffering, are entirely different from the blatant challenges to democracy committed on a regular basis by the jackbooted dimwits of an organization called the Voice of Hindu. VOH calls itself a socio cultural organization, an epithet that conveniently includes various groups of individuals interested only in the social advancement of their culturally and intellectually limited leaders. It is also registered as a political organization and is led by Krit Munohur who is employed at the Ministry of Youth and Sports, although some reports suggest that he has now been promoted to the position of Foreman. Perhaps his new, exalted status has deluded him into thinking that he is the real Prime Minister, and that any laws passed by the democratically elected government that does not meet with his approval will be met by a demonstration of force by idiots looking and behaving like idiots and, with the presumptuous impertinence to claim that they are acting on behalf of the whole Hindu community.

Munohur is usually surrounded by four other individuals on the executive committee of the VoH: two brothers with the names of Navin and Nuvin Unoop. The father, Tarachand Unoop, is the Honorary President of VoH. The General Secretary, Deepak Aubeeluck, is a taxi driver. He has apparently a direct line to God and claims that "La VoH a ete cree par Dieu…C'est sa volonte". I wonder if he would be kind enough to take advantage of this special relationship and ask Him to bless the next lottery ticket that I buy.

These are the people who have decided that a whole, wonderful community of decent, gentle, peace loving citizens need to be represented by them, whether it likes it or not. And the three leaders of our main political parties, all intelligent men of the world, have had nothing better to do than to grant a dubious respectability to this bunch of ne'er-do- wells by allowing them unrestricted access to the corridors of power.

It is true that Berenger was the first political leader to condemn the paramilitary actions of that bunch of thugs last week, something that he conspicuously failed to do as Prime Minister when the same idiots decided in 2005 which work of art was suitable for us to see; but it took him another week to actually force the 3 letters of that vile organization out of his mouth. And then he had the audacity to tell us that it is pointless mentioning the fact that he met the VoH on seven occasions during his two years as Prime Minister! This is rather like the serial killer claiming sheepishly that we ought to ignore his first seven crimes as he is not responsible for the eighth one…Such a pity! The only Mauritian politician who managed to galvanise a whole nation against the evils of communalism now remains shackled to the biggest cause of the division of this nation, and at one time even claimed proud paternity of that pit of fetid ethnocentricity which he dubbed as 'scientific communalism'.

Berenger is to candour what Rama Valayden is to discretion and confidentiality; the latter would not recognize a red herring even if it jumped out of the ocean and bit him on the nose—but he would accept the red herring as the truth and proudly tell everyone about it.

Berenger will apparently ask a PNQ on the whole matter next week; here is the question that hopefully he will ask and which will go a long way towards removing the stench of hypocrisy from politicians on the issue of socio cultural organizations: Will the government reallocate the Rs 75 million it gives annually to socio cultural organizations to a house building programme for the poor? But he won't. He is as much a prisoner of these parasites as are the leaders of the other main parties.

But it is not just the politicians who are responsible for this desecration of democracy. We have a Civil Service that prides itself on being completely apolitical and whose role is to diligently implement the laws enacted by whichever government is in power. In order to maintain that independence and neutrality, Civil Servants are not allowed to engage in politics. And yet, VoH is, according to its leader Krit Munohur, "aussi enregistree aupres de l'Electoral Commission en tant que parti politique avec comme embleme un porte voix". Munohurworks full time for the Civil Service, and his employment status coupled with his political activities therefore beg the following questions: Why has the Minister of sports turned a blind eye to this blatant breach of the rules of the Civil Service? What has the Minister for the Civil Service, also known as the Prime Minister done to put a stop to this grossly corrupt state of affairs that was allowed to flourish under both SAJ and Berenger despite their current, barely credible protestations? Here is the ideal opportunity for Ramgoolam to give one tiresome individual the la gratel he has been giving us for the last ten years.

Harish Boodhoo deserves the utmost praise for tackling these hoodlums with such courage. Whatever people may think of him, nobody can deny that the man has shown immense fortitude in bringing to light many of the unpunished criminal activities of this bunch of psychopaths. But then he can talk with some credibility as he is one of the very few politicians who has not traded our votes for juicy portions of state land or for the massive kickbacks that have turned many mediocre individuals into instant multi millionaires. He has managed to calm down a potentially explosive situation by talking to and reassuring the leaders of the other faiths and communities who feel threatened by the violence of the VoH.

Respectable Hindu organizations like the Mauritius Sanathan Dharma Temples' Federation and the Hindu House have also condemned the activities of the VoH; the MSDTF in particular has asked the Minister for the Environment and the Police Commissioner to remove the logo of the VoH at Grand Bassin and describes it as 'a humiliation to the sanctity of the Ganga Talao'. But, as usual, Anil Baichoo is too busy contemplating the size of the next tikka on his forehead to be able to do anything else. In the meantime, Krit Munohur has come up with the novel idea of replacing his slogan with that of the Goddess Kali, an idea that should never be entertained if the government wants to show any respect for democracy. Here's why: the lake and the whole surrounding area belong to the State, i.e. us. The only organizations that have a right of tenancy over that land are the SILWF, the MSDTF, and the Hindu Maha Sabha. VoH therefore has the same right to effect any structural change at Grand Bassin as you and I, i.e. none.

Here is the golden opportunity for Ramgoolam to prove what he recently said, that nobody can take the law in his own hands. He should get the police to remove that slogan today, and thus leave a very clear message to the VoH that it will not be allowed to again desecrate the holiest place for Hindus in Mauritius. The only message that should be displayed at the entrance is one from the government welcoming devotees and visitors to the sacred lakes.

But will he do it? I hope so. He must surely know that law and order is the number one priority for most of us, and he simply cannot afford a repeat performance of 1998 when he gave the impression of being hesitant and soft on crime.

Ramgoolam has to realize that doing nothing about these people will be interpreted as the victory of Venom over Hope. The Hope that we all cherish of a decent, law abiding society with no place for people to use religion in order to enrich themselves whilst riding roughshod over the laws of the land and further entrenching the divisions in our society.
 
R.A.J.
Email: servipei@yahoo.com

Webmaster's note: This piece has been lightly edited by our editor.

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