The Opposition in India may find fault with the decision of the Prime Minister to demonetise high value currency notes, but his counterpart from Mauritius has backed Narendra Modi for the landmark decision.
“I am not an Indian, but what I personally think as a Prime Minister, is that Mr Modi has done is the right thing for the country. People will have some difficulty which will be temporary, but in the long run it will be realised that it will help the economy of the country,” Mauritian Prime Minsiter Anerood Jugnauth told reporters here.
Jugnauth, who was in Goa to attend the inauguration of a new facility of a pharmaceutical company, also said that Mauritius shared an exceptional relationship with India, whose roots go back to centuries when Indians immigrated from the mainland and relcated in the Mauritan islands in the Indian Ocean.
“When you come to Mauritius, you feel at ease, you feel at home because you get the feeling that you are in some part of India and for this we are very proud. We are indebted to our ancestors who have left such memorable values to us,” Jugnauth said.
“We have very good relationship with many other countries, but with India it is very special because people of Mauritius are descendants of people with Indian origin. Indians went from India and established in Mauritius and therefore I always say it is a blood relationship and India has been helping us a lot,” he also said, adding that the relationship between the two countries was “very special, extraordinary”.
“I do not think there is such a relationship with any other country,” he also said.
“We are not trying to invent anything. In the normal course, India is helping us. There are lots of investments from Indian in Mauritius and we pray that it will keep on like this,” he said.
Jugnauth also said that Ayurveda played a role in the health infrastructure in Mauritius and that he was working towards setting up an exclusive Ayurveda hospital in the island country.
“I have always believed in it. I have always tried to promote it in Mauritius...” Jugnauth said.