Mauritius’ Parliamentary Elections Hold a Crucial Lesson for India

The year 2024 has been significant for India’s continental and maritime neighborhoods alike. Most of these countries have seen changes of government – either through peaceful elections or otherwise. The political shifts in India’s neighborhood in many cases have made headlines for the consequential swing in each country’s ties with New Delhi.

In that regard, the results of the parliamentary polls in Mauritius offer a respite for India: a change of government without concerns about bilateral relations.

On November 13, 2024, Navinchandra (Navin) Ramgoolam, son of the father of Mauritius and former Prime Minister S. Ramgoolam, was sworn in for the fourth term as the head of the government. He replaced Pravind Jugnauth, who oversaw some notable advances in India-Mauritius relations.

Despite the landslide victory by the opposition coalition alliance, Alliance du Changement (ADC), the change in guard has left New Delhi rather sanguine. Mauritius is thus a beacon of India’s diplomatic heft, as New Delhi has for decades cultivated ties across party lines in the small yet strategically located island country in the Indian Ocean.

The ties between India and S. Ramgoolam, who led Mauritius to independence, crystallized during the elder Ramgoolam’s student days, when he was leading the London branch of the Indian National Congress (INC) and built close ties with Jawaharlal Nehru and other members of the INC. Formal diplomatic ties were established in 1948, 20 years before the independence of Mauritius. However, informal ties date back more than 200 years when a large number of Indians were taken as indentured laborers to Mauritius by different colonial masters, the French and British. 

The fact that Mauritius’ Independence and the Republic Day are both celebrated on March 12 – the same day in 1930 when Mahatma Gandhi started his famous Dandi march and launched the civil disobedience movement against the British in India – is a powerful symbol of the strong historical bond between the two countries. United by people, cultures, and policy perspectives, the bonds between India and Mauritius are unparalleled anywhere in the Indian Ocean and beyond.

Many superlatives have been used to describe the present nature of ties between the two countries like “special bond,” “special and unique,” “comprehensive ties,” “relation of blood and sweat,” and “two countries, one people.” These affirmations and attestations gain new salience in the current era, when the Indian Ocean has once again acquired a strategic lens. New Delhi developed an airstrip and jetty on the Mauritian island of Agalega to expand its reach in the Indian Ocean and keep an eagle’s eye on any untoward military and non-military activities. Further, India was consistent in providing diplomatic support for the recently agreed Chagos Island deal, which will not only transfer the sovereignty of the islands back to Mauritius but will also allow India to maintain a relative military balance in the Indian Ocean, with the U.S. continuing its use of basing facilities in Diego Garcia.

Although Mauritius follows a multiparty democratic system, post-independence its main political parties have been largely led by two families having historical lineages: the Ramgoolams or the Jugnauths. To this end, New Delhi has cultivated strong relationships among both groups. For instance, even while Pravind Jugnauth was in power from 2019-2024, during External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s official visit in July 2024 he met Navin Ramgoolam, then the opposition leader, as well as Paul Berenger, who has been prime minister for a brief period and is an important public figure in Mauritian politics. Similarly during the 2018 visit of India’s then-External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, she met with opposition leader Xavier-Luc Duva.

Such meetings with people across party lines signal New Delhi’s willingness to engage and work with any government in power. India-Mauritius ties are a stellar example of robust friendship and kinship that has stood the test of time, whether during the period of the Cold War or beyond, due to bipartisan support from both sides. And the relationship continues to rise further to reach multidimensionality, with areas of cooperation ranging from diplomacy to defense and development.

The meeting of minds across political parties remains the backbone of the India-Mauritius brotherhood and friendship; these lessons must be carried forward in other areas of Indian foreign policy.

India must attempt to replicate the bipartisan support enjoyed by India-Mauritius ties in its immediate neighborhood, South Asia. This is a region where New Delhi enjoys deep civilizational, historical, people-to-people, economic, cultural, and military ties. Yet more often than not, India’s ties with regional countries over the last two decades have been swinging from hot to cold. Particularly with the involvement of other powers in South Asia, India’s relationships are seen falling prey to change in governments.

For instance, the Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh was considered pro-India as opposed to the approach of opposition leader Khaleda Zia. Likewise, in Nepal, despite sharing very deep cultural and people-to-people ties and having a Treaty of Peace and Friendship, the current K.P. Sharma Oli government, like the previous one led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, is considered pro-China, as compared to governments in the past led by Sher Bahadur Deuba whose policies have tilted toward India. In the case of Sri Lanka, the Rajapaksa era is labelled as pro-China. The most extreme example may be the Maldives, a small island nation where incumbent President Mohamed Muizzu won the elections by riding on an anti-India campaign.

This binary tango in New Delhi’s neighborhood is not a positive sign for India, which is the most influential country in South Asia. The lack of political support from the immediate neighborhood can be the biggest stumbling block for New Delhi as it rises in Asia and aspires to lead the world. While India marches ahead in terms of economic growth and diplomatic potential, getting buy-in from its neighborhood will be a true reflection of India’s foreign policy mantra of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” (One Earth, One Family).

Additionally, India should focus on its neighborhood first by layering it with regional integration. While all this will require many adjustments for India’s foreign policy approach, it is necessary. The reality remains that India needs to ensure an insurance mechanism for its bilateral relationships as neighboring governments rise and fall in its own backyard.