Politically, it turned out to be the Great Gamble. When on March 30, 2012, Mr Anerood Jugnauth resigned as President of Mauritius, it came as a surprise to many. After all not too many sitting presidents in the world give up their head-of-state jobs in order to throw themselves into the rough and tumble of politics. While quitting, Mr Jugnauth declared before the people of Mauritius that he was in complete disagreement with the policies of the Government of Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam, and was not going to support its programmes any further.

It was a gamble—albeit a shrewdly calculated one—that paid off. On December 15, 2014, Mr Jugnauth, 84, was sworn in as Mauritius’s new Prime Minister, capping off a bitter but successful election campaign that saw his political coalition called the Alliance Lepep embroiled fiercely with his principal opponents—Mr Navinchandra Ramgoolam of the Labour Party and Mr Paul Berenger of Mauritian Militant Movement. Mr Ramgoolam who completed his third term as Prime Minister is the son of independent Mauritius’ first PM, Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, hailed as the Father of the Nation.

The Government of Mr Ramgoolam was trying to bring in constitutional changes that would grant more power to the President. As the poll results show, this was largely unacceptable to the people of Mauritius, about 700,000 (nearly 74 cent of voters) of whom went to the polls giving outright victory to the Alliance Lepep. The alliance won 47 of 62 seats. Mr Jugnauth has earlier served four consecutive terms as PM between 1982 and 1995, and then again between 2000 and 2003. He remained President of Mauritius between 2003 and 2012. We have put his victory at the polls on the cover.

Elsewhere, we have a host of stories in the magazine, including the appointments of the first Indian-origin US envoy to India, the first Indian-origin Surgeon General in the US and an Indian-origin science envoy in the US. Also, two Indian sisters in the USA have received the first two NRI cards from the U.P. Government.

Happy reading.

(sayantanc@gmail.com)