Does anyone know what the by-election in No.18 will be about? The Metro Express? That will go ahead no matter the result. The opposition cocking a snook at the government? So far, it’s a war of everybody with everybody fighting everybody else. And that’s even before the government has waded into the fight. But the most ludicrous explanation (according to Roshi Bhadain) is that this by-election will be a demonstration of anti-dynastic revulsion against Anerood Jugnauth elevating his son, Pravind Jugnauth, to the prime ministership. Really?

Just take a look at the field so far: the Labour Party is fielding Arvin Boolell who was given his first party ticket in 1987 by his own father, Satcam Boolell, when the latter was leader of the Labour Party. But Arvin Boolell is not very enthusiastic about this fight; he is more interested in ‘changing’ the Labour Party by taking its leadership away from Navin Ramgoolam, son of another former party leader, Seewoosagur Ramgoolam. And Boolell is supported in his crusade most vocally by Shakeel Mohamed, son of former Labour Minister Yousuf Mohamed, who is content with simply the post of deputy leader. One red prince replaced by another red prince is the sum total of change on offer so far by the Labour Party. It’s hard to see what else the Labour Party is offering in this by-election.

Then there is the PMSD. Its leader, Xavier-Luc Duval, not only gave his own son Adrien Duval a ticket in 2014, parachuting him into parliament (with another son, Alexandre, waiting in the wings) but even installed him as deputy speaker, before taking the whole family into the opposition. Now the party faithful will argue that it’s not the same thing as making a son a prime minister. But is it really? Does it really matter whether the son is made a prime minister or deputy speaker? Or are they both instances of papas transferring public offices to their pitis as if they were family heirlooms? In any case, when it comes to dynasty, neither the PMSD nor the Labour Party has any lessons to teach anyone. They are both, along with the MSM, symbols of how far politics has degenerated in this country.

Not to be outdone, the MMM, the anti-dynastic party par excellence – or so they say – out of all the people in the country and their party could find no one else to field except Nita Juddoo, a political novice and daughter of former Education Minister Ramduth Jaddoo. But she has competition: her uncle Pramode Jaddoo has also thrown his hat into the ring as an independent candidate. So it’s going to be a family fight.

And this by-election, with its eclectic cast of characters will be an expression of anti-dynastic sentiment against the MSM? Irony is no longer a literary category, it seems. As the Pakistanis like to say, everybody is naked in this bathhouse.

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