LALIT argues for Kreol in National Assembly – Our Full Proposals Submitted to the Select Committee
28.09.2026
Following the Speaker’s setting up of a Select Committee of Parliament “to consider the introduction of Kreol Morisien in the proceedings of the National Assembly, and matters ancillary thereto”, LALIT submitted its proposals on 20 September.*
After initial near “national consensus” on this vital decolonization issue, there is now a kind of competition building up on the “language front”, one that runs the risk of taking on a communal form as well as an important de-colonization form. This happens every time there is change in the air, change that might shift the balance of power – in a very economically unequal Republic of Mauritius, one becoming more and more unequal every single day and while a world economic crisis looms and colonial powers grab on to bits of old empires. Sovereignty is threatened at all levels. And the power inequality within our country also reflects the reality that our Republic is still heavily colonized, despite 58 years of Independence, not only in terms of the mother tongue and vernacular being banned, but in terms of inequality and injustice left over from the fact that we are almost all the socio-political “descendants” of slaves and indentured labourers still up against oligarchs and colonial empires. Even on the language issue, it is a struggle for equality amongst all of us inside Mauritius, and also a struggle against persistent and rearguard colonial aggression from the outside.
LALIT notes, as you will see at the end of the paper, in our proposals that, after Kreol, it is Bhojpuri that is indeed the largest mother-tongue of the Republic of Mauritius, as well as still being a vernacular in parts of the countryside. Bhojpuri has been more oppressed than Kreol by colonial prejudice. We add this in case the phrase we quoted in Paragraph 1 above “and matters ancillary thereto” allows for Bhojpuri to be included in the terms of reference of the Select Committee, without causing delay to Kreol being introduced.
Precisely because of the Select Committee mandate from Parliament referring only to “Kreol”, and leaving out reference to Bhojpuri, Ms Sarita Boodhoo, who has long struggled for Bhojpuri as indeed we have, put a complaint before the National Human Rights Commission on the grounds of discrimination, calling for Bhojpuri also to be considered, though, to her credit, she specifically requesting no delay in introducing Kreol.
She, and afterwards other socio-cultural organizations, further widened the issue by introducing the idea of all the “ancestral language” getting some recognition in the National Assembly. And it is here that we need to keep the debate respectful and yet rational.
During the same week that all the submissions were made, as if to come and highlight the continued colonization by Europe, the Franco-Catholic lobby, led by a no-doubt oblivious new French Ambassador, alongside French lackey Minister Gangapersad, and also representatives of the Service Diocésain de l'Éducation Catholique, congratulated themselves on their, out of sight of any national debate, having obtained “victory” against the mother tongues: yes, the colonial language French has now been introduced for the very first time and without a debate, behind the backs of the heavily censored “L’Assises de L’Education” as medium of instruction. This is outrageous. So, French has being introduced, on the sly, alongside the colonial language English, as new dual-medium in dozens of primary and secondary schools of the Republic of Mauritius. This will hot up the de-colonization debate, not only in education but for Kreol in the National Assembly as well! The brashness of colonization knows no bounds. And the lackeys in our own Republic know no low on how low to stoop to lick the boots of the colonizers. This, too, is not new.
Anyway, in what was prepared during a calm moment, we are now sharing in a turbulent one. Here is the gist of our arguments submitted to the Select Committee. The debate is not only turbulent, but hot.
You can also read the two attachments, also published after our proposals: one gives a brief outline of past struggles within formal democratic institutions like Parliament for the ban on Kreol to be lifted, the other outlines LALIT’s own history on this precise issue in the 'Document' section of lalitmauritius.org.
Please click on the following link;
