MARSEILLES: There was little that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could do to persuade the French President Nicholas Sarkozy on the issue of Sikh turbans as he was under fire with the European Union ticking him off for New Delhi’s failure to prevent massacre of Christians in Orissa and Karnataka. At the India-EU summit, Sarkozy, as head of the European Council, and Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, took up the issue very strongly about Hindutva terror outfit’s attacks on Christians, leaving Manmohan Singh with little room to push the Sikh demand for removing the ban on turbans in French schools. Sarkozy strongly dismissed the suggestion that the Christians’ massacre could be equated with the discrimination Sikhs allegedly face in France.
Sarkozy repeated the French line, saying: “We respect Sikhs, their customs, their traditions. They are most welcome to France. But we have rules concerning the neutrality of the civil servants, rules concerning secularism and these rules don’t apply to just Sikhs, they apply to the Muslims, they apply to all on the territory of the French Republic.” India’s shame on violence against minorities is a continuing saga on world stage as EU criticized Indian actions in Kashmir for years. In 2002, then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was ticked off by Danish PM Anders Rasmussen on human rights abuses of Kashmiris, leading Vajpayee to retaliate.
Re: EU calls Hindutva terrorist
EU, sane atlast!
Made up stories … here is what happened and what was said about the voilence in India
The Indian leader condemned the recent attacks on Christians in India. Noting that Christians have rights under India’s constitution, Mr Barroso said Mr Singh’s comments were appreciated for their “clarity and vigour”.
Of course as is common these days … a comment on the situation along the Pak Afghan border
The security situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan also came up for discussion, with the two sides expressing concern about deteriorating conditions along the border between those countries
Re: EU calls Hindutva terrorist
So was Mannu allowed to wear a turban?