But Mr Ramgoolam says the island has avoided the "poison of communal divisions".
Poverty and anger deepen the country's religious, ethnic and communal divisions.
But Israel's communal divisions (the Indian sense of the term is appropriate) are much more severe, and they're often backed by law or organised violence.
In April a prominent Hindu religious leader, the abbot of monasteries in West Bengal state, spoke out against a Hindu nationalism that might exacerbate communal divisions.
"We should be honest – our history and the religious roots of our communal divisions mean we already suffer from a serious image problem.
One more example of the communal divisions in Belgium – and yet another obstacle to negotiations to form a government – has arisen.
The violence that erupted in India in 1947 was the crystallisation of the communal divisions that the colonial system had created, and thrived upon.
Granted, "racism" has unique connotations in India, which is beset with starker linguistic, caste and communal divisions, but the overarching point stands: seeking to represent "authentic" Indian beauty abroad continues to be an exclusionary enterprise.
A 72-year-old Bosnian has achieved the seemingly impossible by bringing together 7,000 people from all sides of his country's bitter communal divisions to press for compensation for their suffering during Bosnia's 1992-1995 war.
In a minority, however, these responses may create or magnify the susceptibility to paranoia and other psychotic-like symptoms, particularly when ongoing communal divisions continue to foster fear and suspicion.
