No rocket science why Mauritius political instability worries India
By Devashish Bhuyan – New Delhi.
The disturbing waves in the ocean of Mauritius Politics has one again risen soon after the Supreme Court allowed the Director of Public Relation Prosecution to challenge Prime Minister Pravind Jugunath on his direct involvement in a case of corruption.
The case goes back in 2015 where Pravind Jugunath was accused and found guilty of using his influence as Finance Minister to reallocate a sum of Rs 144.7 million to a medical clinic (MedPoint Company) that was partly owned by his sister and brother in law.
They were the shareholders of the company.
But soon after the Supreme Court allowed the DPP to challenge the Mauritius PM, it has set a blazing movements in the house of the rest of the political parties.
And the biggest impact of this decision is on the way New Delhi is reacting to it. The Modi Government in India has lately been quite interested to invest in Mauritius. The recent foreign tour of Mauritius PM Pravind Jugunath to India resulted in sets of new deals on foreign investment in Mauritius.
In his tour to India, the Modi Government announced $500 million assistance to Mauritius as the two countries resolved to deepen their relationship.
According to a close source in New Delhi, the political parties in Mauritius are all geared up for a snap poll.
According to the reports presented by the source, the Parti Mauricien Social Democrat (PMSD) and the Movement Millitant Mauricien (MMM) is all set to strengthen their support base once again.
According to the reports coming from the Labor Party, they are about to hold a press conference to express their stand on the current political scenario after the Supreme Court’s order on PM Pravind Jugunath.
But again, the party is definitely not in the favor of supporting a person who has been lately accused of corruption.
Political Instability
When such a kind of political instability in Mauritius is on a rise, the Modi Government in India is indeed taking a close look on it.
No country would want to invest in a place that is facing such a kind of backlashes. And that is why, India has apparently advised the Mauritian PM to dissolve the Parliament and go for snap polls.
According to a survey conducted by the intelligence agency of India on the prospectus of a snap polls based on the rallies carried out on May 1, it showed that MMM with Paul Berenger or Pradeep Jiya or Ajay Ganesh as Prime Ministeral candidate won’t fetch them more than 22 seats.
However, if they go with Paul Berger as PM Candidate and Madan Dulloo as Deputy PM Candidate then they have good chance of winning at least 38 to 44 seats.
If PMSD contest the election with a Hindu PM candidate, they will get not more than 30-40 seats.
Rocket Science
With the kind of interest that the Indian authorities are taking in the Mauritius Political system, one doesn’t need any rocket science knowledge to figure out that India is indeed considering this political instability as a matter of concern for the kind of heavy investment they have lately put in the Mauritian Economy.
As the matter is more tilted towards the case of corruption, India wants its investments not to be misused and wasted down in the pockets of few influential people of little care for the country itself.
India definitely has a concern for the rise of political instability in Mauritius as they fear that this may lead to fall in regime and collapse of the current government which will definitely harm their investment in terms of wealth and time.
The political instability has a direct impact on the foreign investment being made on that particular country.
The investments are made and decided on the factors like risks and returns. The political instability gives a big bump on the curve of the risk factor.
The greater is the instability, the costly it becomes to invest in that particular country. Foreign investments are very much required to lead the path of development with a sustainable good relationship with that country, the source said.