There is only one caste, the caste of humanity. - Sathya Sai Baba

When Indian immigrants came to Mauritius as indentured labourers, lured by false promises of gold and packed in boats in unhealthy conditions, they developed a camaraderie among themselves irrespective of religion, caste and region.

They stuck together as “one people” and called themselves ‘‘Jahaji bhai’’ – brothers of the same boat. So far as slaves are concerned their journey took place in even worse conditions.

We should be gratefulto G.Ramgoolam, R.Ramsaha and B.Ramlallah, working under Dr K.Hazareesingh, who ‘‘retrieved and preserved all the registers and other documents concerning the Indian indentured labourers which Lord Twining wanted to throw in the harbour of Port Louis’’, as mentioned by Kanti Banymandhub in his book ‘‘The Ubiquitous Royal’’. We should also be grateful to the MGI for having preserved these documents in good condition but which could have been destroyed if not looked after properly.

But history belongs to everybody. In particular Mauritian history does not belong only to Mauritians, let alone to those directly concerned by it. History belongs to the whole world. The Right To Information Act (RTI), passed by the Indian parliament in 2005 guarantees the freedom of information to anybody who wants to obtain any information that should be in the public domain, and this too within a month at the latest.

Why then do some people believe that, because they have been the custodians of some documents for decades these belong to them? They brandish the spectre of riots to frighten weak-minded people. They remain prisoners of their closed little world, shutting out the rest of today’s world.

Were there riots last year when some candidates for the National Assembly deliberately chose to label themselves as members of communities they did not apparently belong to ?

Social mobility is the great democratizer in modern society. Gone are the days when people got stuck with the ‘‘caste’’ their ancestors belonged to on account of their occupation, whatever their present occupation would be. The caste system was stratified, codified and fossilized by a section of the people who wanted to preserve their privileges.

It is the same in class-ridden societies. ‘‘Working class’’ people were looked down upon by aristocrats and those who wanted to rub shoulders with royalty and aristocracy. Today we should all belong to the ‘‘working class’’ unless we are parasites.

The world today progresses through meritocracy and mobility. But there are still pockets of resistance. The ‘‘caste’’ system works in reverse mode when some people want to gain advantages, for example through reserved seats in

Some educational institutions in India. Only last week some of them paid 500,000 Indian rupees to obtain fake certifi cates showing that they are from the OBC (other backward classes) to gain admission to some prestigious colleges of Delhi University !!!

All over the world people are fighting not only for their own rights but for others’ rights as well. In 1963 the civil rights movement led by Rev Martin Luther King in the USA marched to the song written by Bob Dylan :

How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man ?

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind.

It was the most inspiring song of that period.

Some people are talking about riots. There can be riots when there is no drinking water, no food and prices of basic foodstuffs skyrocket. Not when the people demand their right to information. Riots ? Listen.

The answer is blowing in the wind.