Special Report
Editorial
Op-Ed
Opinion
Columns

Politics
Literature
Music
Art & Culture
Sikh Religion
Rights
1984
Books
Education
Business

Entertainment
Lifestyle
Travel
Health
Heritage
Sports
Kids Corner

Panjab
India
Pakistan
South Asia
US of A
Canada
Asia-Pacific
UK
Europe
Middle East
Africa
World
 

Archives
Newsletter
Advertise

Obituaries

Feedback
Contact Us
About Us
Site Map

Sarkozy fails to cozy up to Sikhs
WSN Bureau

NEW DELHI: The French president Nicolas Sarkozy was here, and the Sikh community remained totally focussed on the issue of ban on turban in government-run French schools. The debate remained more noisy than argumentative, and the community's view on any other developments or deals between France and India remained unknown. Perhaps even the idea of having any such view remained elusive.

Sarkozy, of course, remained technically correct: “There is no ban on wearing of turban in France though use of religious symbols in certain situations is prohibited.”

On his part, India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, himself a Sikh and sporting his trademark blue turban, took up with Sarkozy the issue that has been bothering the community, and there is little to be known that Sarkozy remained merely technically correct. The issue also figured in Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani’s discussions with Sarkozy. The result was neither expected to be different, nor was.

On its part, the community organizations at least ensured that the world doe sget to know the problem that the Sikhs were facing in France. Just before Sarkozy landed, SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar met India’s Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon to "understand the sensitivity and Sikh sentiments" over the ban on wearing turbans in France. He said the government would “strongly take up the issue with the French President”.

The demand and efforts by various Sikh organizations to secure a meeting with Sarkozy did not bear fruit. Some representatives of the Indian Sikh Diaspora have now vowed to take the matter to the European courts and the United Nations. “Our fight for wearing the turban will continue,” Mejinderpal Kaur, director, United Sikhs, the organisation mobilising public opinion on the issue of turban, said.

The ban on wearing turbans to schools was imposed by the French government in 2004. Turbans were classified by French authorities as one of the religious symbols which children attending schools were barred from wearing.

Gurpreet Singh, another director of United Sikhs, termed the Indian government’s response as ‘unfortunate’. “Apart from being India's prime minister, Dr (Manmohan) Singh is also a Sikh. It is a matter of shame that he is appearing so indifferent towards our religious sensibilities. What is happening, in fact, amounts to alienating a minority community,” he said.

One couple from France, Gurdial Singh and his wife Surjeet Kaur, from Bobigny near Paris who were forced to withdraw their 14-year-old son Jasbir Singh from the Louis Mission school, said they were drawing up plans to set up an educational campus that would be known as Shere Punjab Complexe (SPC) in Bobigny.   

30 January 2008
 

Bookmark with

Reddit    Yahoo     Furl    Delicious