Aren’t those kids lucky? Shakeel Mohamed, this new generation’s knight in shining armour has arrived and his mission is to protect the young, the old and the religious he’ll fi ght with the mean, stuck-up authorities and he will make sure that our overworked youth get a postponement of their exams. He’ll make sure people can wear what they want for work and he will take on Air Mauritius for refusing to employ hijab-clad ladies. And to anyone who opposes him, Mohamed says- hypocrites!

I guess it’s easy to go wild on such a mission for then you can accuse any and every person who opposes you of Islamophobia. It’s a clever strategy but it’s not as clever as Mohamed thinks. For it defi es all logic to have the authorities postpone exams because of a religious celebration. In fact, I have never in my life heard anything so ludicrous.

I actually don’t know which is worse that Mohamed made the request in the fi rst place or that the authorities entertained and agreed to it.

Imagine the message we’re sending to our already confused youth the practice of your religion is more important than everything else.

More important than your education, than passing your exams. We’re also teaching them how to protest and make claims in the most deceitful and underhand way- play the religion card and you’ll obtain what you want.

I cringed when I later learnt that it wasn’t just the UOM that was “made” to postpone the exams (I mean seriously, if that’s the way the university is going to be run now, what hope is there for that generation of students?) but that pupils of the fourth and fifth standards’ exams were also postponed because of Bakrid and of the Durga Pooja. What nonsense is this?! Did God strike dead those hundreds of thousands of pupils who’ve sat for their exams on previous years? Really!

This is so pathetic that words fail me. But that Shakeel Mohamed got the green light to act in such a preposterous way worries me more and it speaks volumes.

Didn’t Mohamed tell Lormus Bundhoo to go back to what he does best (buttering up the prime minister) and didn’t he overrule Bundhoo when the latter said female nurses weren’t to wear hijab while at work? I wonder what’s next- Mohamed calling the commissioner of police to order him to let women police constables wear a hijab with their police uniform?

Mohamed calling the CEO of Air Mauritius and demanding that air hostesses be allowed or encouraged to wear a hijab on the airplane?

Oh I forget. He already tried that one it’s called discrimination if one doesn’t allow a woman to wear her hijab. I wonder if the Rastafarians are also going to demand that they be allowed to smoke their gandja in the name of their religion.

They should.

Just to show government what they’ve started in their attempt to divert attention from our disastrous reality.