The vulgar realities of Mauritian politics have built up unfathom­able heroes and overwhelmed those who had something to say, something that could have brought positive change to Mauritius. Under the unflinching leadership of Anerood Jugnauth, we are being thrown into a pit of senseless journalism that looks more and more like human values classes.

Instead of focusing on the real issues plaguing the Mauritian society, both journalists and politicians are engaged in a war of words, defiant for the former and churlish for the latter. Yet, we are irrevocably bound to lose, as a nation, with such a war.

For example, Anerood Jugnauth’s intervention on the potential decriminalisation of cannabis immediately skewed the debate towards the semantics of communication. After his speech, the views varied greatly on whether Jugnauth had said the right thing or whether he went too far. Regardless of our opinions, we have all fallen trap to the prime minister’s undeniable po­litical prowess. While the issue of cannabis was making the headlines, in the heat of it, the conversation had switched for a moment to Jugnauth himself and his backward ways. He might have been scared to tackle the debate about cannabis because it could have serious constitutional ramifications. However, a debate about him, Jugnauth had faced a million times and he could not care any less. With the Mauritian population’s aptitude to forgive and forget, the prime minister has probably gone through that phase with relative ease.

Following in his leader’s footsteps, which he has been born to do probably more than Pravind Jugnauth himself, Roshi Bha­dain used similar tactics to ride through the wave of criticism after he agreed to the new DTAA with India. With his back to the wall and industry specialists like Rama Sithanen after him, he agreed to a debate on the radio with Reza Uteem. The result was staggering. While the media elites tried to focus the issue on the notice of termination that India allegedly sent us, the population decided otherwise. The conversation was going to be all Bhadain’s rude behaviour during his radio interview. A few hours later, the minister of financial services was on a flight to the UK. Waiting for the heat to die down, Bhadain has since issued an indirect apology for his behaviour from the UK via his Facebook page. The DTAA was already old news by then. Mission accomplished for Bhadain.

On the other hand, the likes of MP Maneesh Gobin, who had valid points to make about taboo topics like AIDS and the LGBT community, had no platform in Mauritius but found one on national TV in South Africa. Why you may ask? Only because he probably does not fit into the cheap vulgarity of the current regime.

Make no mistake, with the Alliance Lepep in power, we are in the golden age of journalism. However, with our inevitable eye for sensationalism, we are playing right into their hands.

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