CHANDIGARH, Punjab (KP)—Following the efforts of Sikh organizations in the United States led by United Sikhs, Minister of State for External Affairs, Anand Sharma, disclosed that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had also opened talks with the French authorities and explained the necessarily of the turban for any Sikh.
Speaking to the press from the green city, Sharma alleged that the possibility of Sikh children returning to French schools seemed like a reality in the near future. Sharma told the press that President Nicolas Sarkozy has decided to consider the appeals of Sikhs living in France. According to Sharma, Dr. Manmohan Singh had appealed to Sarkozy at the European Summit.
According to Dr. Manmohan Singh, who also sports a turban, the Sikhs have an obligation to wear a turban in public. Wearing the turban in no way demonstrated fundamentalism in Sikhs as the French have mistaken it.
The French Government had initially imposed the ban on all visible religious gear in March 2004. The ban was meant to target the Muslim Hijab as it covered one’s face, however the Sikh turban also became the target of government ignorance and several Sikhs were removed from public schools in France.
