The Mouvement Socialiste Militant (MSM) is celebrating its twenty-fifth birthday this year out of which the MSM has been in power during 18 years. Born in 1983 whilst in power, it goes without saying that the MSM has been behind all modern developments. Yet, many people tend to forget the part played by the party. Worse, some pseudo-historians try to delete the contribution of the MSM in the making of the modern history of Mauritius.

History bears testimony that when Sir Anerood Jugnauth became Prime Minister, the economy was clearly very badly ill. Economic morosity coupled with more than 80,000 unemployed people, frustrated by hard times awaited the new Prime Minister. Instead of getting the support of one and all to tackle this extremely precarious situation, SAJ faced a political crisis. Undeterred, he set to task, his mission being not to let down the population. As a man of vision, and imbued with strong determination, he was able to change the economic shape of the country. Despite the fact that he was sometimes accused of being too tough, he eventually succeeded in bringing smiles on the face of Mauritians. Consolidating the different sectors of the economy, with his various political partners, SAJ first solved the unemployment problem. He rightly pointed out that the best way you can help a person is to give him a job which is tantamount to restoring his dignity. As the years went by, we were able to attain optimum employment and Mauritius now had recourse to imported labour from China, India and other countries.

SAJ’s next aim was to share the national cake with the population. His succeeding policies for social justice prompted him to enable the population to benefit the wealth they had all contributed to create and very soon the common people started sensing their standard of living improving by and large. Items of modern technologies which only the rich could afford started  paving their way in the homes of the common people…television, refrigerators, washing machines, hi-fi, vacuum cleaners, blenders, mixers, grinders…and the list goes on, were no longer a dream to the whole population. SAJ’s vision, as he always said, was to make the population benefit from different items of modernity. He simply wanted to remove the discrimination between those who had and those who did not. SAJ did, as well, consolidate the economy of the island, by furthering the diversification policy. Needless to mention that, over and above protecting the sugar sector, Mauritius consolidated both textile and tourism, as our economy was hugely dependent on them with a new phenomenon showing its jaws_ globalisation and its tough challenges, the most serious being the removal of preferential tariff and trade. With his economic collaborators, SAJ thought it wise to develop other economic sectors like the Offshore, Freeport, ICT and a few others.

Actually, the President of Mauritius, SAJ is held in high esteem by the population as the
‘father of economic development and of modern Mauritius’. Even Navin Ramgoolam, who used to oppose him, has admitted that SAJ has done a lot for the country!
Prior to SAJ leaving active politics, the MSM was legated to Pravind Jugnauth who had to lead the 2nd generation of the party, with the same vision and determination of his illustrious predecessor and father.

However, it was in ruffled political waters in 1995 that Pravind Jugnauth made his first jump in national politics- a time the new alliance between labour and MMM wanted to drive SAJ out of power. No other politician would have ever dared to take such a big risk but Pravind Jugnauth responded to the call to help the MSM. He lost his first election but benefited from the necessary skills required in Mauritian politics.

But, to many enlightened politicians, it was a good start for Pravind to be apprised of Mauritian politics and, that too, under the guidance of SAJ. As well, it was a golden opportunity for him to know more about who were his genuine well-wishers and supporters. Believe it or not, in politics, you don’t have many! Very often you need to shield yourself from those who are very close to you.

The new MSM-MMM alliance won a landslide victory in 2000 and Pravind topped the list. Hailing from the Jugnauth family, he had to make his presence be felt in government and as soon as he was inaugurated as Minister of Agriculture, he came forward with the Voluntary Retirement Scheme which came to give dignity to the workers of the sugar industry… Around Rs 400,000 to each worker along with 7 perches of land in morcellements with the necessary infrastructural facilities such as good roads as well as  water and electricity supplies. Just before that, sugar industry workers were pensioned off with a slender Rs 300 to Rs700 after having toiled hard in the sugar estates. Of course it was not an easy task for a novice but with strong determination, he was able to bring smiles in the face of labourers and artisans.

Pravind  also laid the foundation stone to turn the sugar industry into a sugarcane industry
but when SAJ went to Reduit as President of the Republic, Pravind became deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. His very first budget enthralled the population and which Paul Berenger, the then PM, qualified as ‘Coup d’essai Coup de Maître’ and called him ‘Etoile montante de la politique mauricienne!’. Even the trade unions expressed their satisfaction during and after tripartite negociations. Pravind offered to them more than they demanded!

Pravind showed his intellectual qualities in his objective to consolidate our economy. He contributed in initiating the Integrated Resort Scheme to bring more foreign direct investments and today Mauritius is benefiting a lot. More than 10 projects including Anahita, Valriche and others are generating billions of rupees these days.

Next, he thought it wise to make of Mauritius a duty free island and position the island on the same line as Singapore and Dubai to attract more and more tourists, this sector having become the pillar of our economy. He also thought of making the country a tax-free island, but lost the 2005 election though 12 candidates of the MSM won their seats.

Once again those who toiled in the dark to make him lose his seat started campaigning, but undeterred Pravind  resisted them.

His aim was to consolidate the MSM. Surrounded by his close collaborators, he took up the challenge to rally his supporters for the first May alone at Curepipe in 2006 which was a big success but this time himself and his party had to face a new opponent- one of the members of the local press which started undermining him and his party. Undeterred, the MSM repeated this exercise the following year with a much better crowd. In 2008, Pravind took another challenge - to rally his supporters this time in Port louis, adjacent to
the Government House. Even this time, enlightened political observers have been unanimous to assert that the MSM and its leader, Pravind Jugnauth, are a force to reckon with.

Today, Pravind has made of the MSM a joker in the Mauritian politics. It is not without any reason that Paul Bérenger is of opinion that more than 80% of Mauritians are in favour of the MSM-MMM alliance. Even the Labour Party wants an alliance with the MSM.

Needless to mention that the second generation of the MSM family are prepared to assume responsibility so that progress and development continues in Mauritius and, more importantly, the population feel they have their people in power and catering for their welfare. The MSM has been behind every success in Mauritius. This is the reason why Pravind repeatedly states that the MSM will form the next government!

The future of Mauritius lies in the hands of a new generation of politicians, people endowed with outstanding skills of innovation, creativity and originality, people who can help Mauritius face global economic challenges like oil, food, financial crises and many more.

Dev Jhug