Prime minister to be Bastille Day guest of honour

Prime minister Manmohan Singh will be the guest of honour at France’s Bastille Day celebrations, the first time an Indian dignitary has been invited for the occasion.
French ambassador Jerome Bonnafont told reporters on Friday that the invitation was not just a reciprocation of the honour extended to President Nicolas Sarkozy earlier, but signified the special relationship between Paris and New Delhi.

Sarkozy was the chief guest for India’s Republic Day parade in 2008. Earlier, President Jacques Chirac had also been invited. A contingent of the Indian army, navy and air force, as well as a military band will join the French armed forces to march down the Avenue des Champs-É lysé es in Paris to mark the celebrations.

The 400-strong contingent has left for Paris for a practice session with the French forces. “When the Indian soldiers will take part in the military parade in Paris on July 14, it will remind the French of the sacrifice of the numerous Indian soldiers who were killed or maimed in France during World War I,” Bonnafont said.

Nearly a million Indian soldiers fought for the British Empire in France and other theatres of war in Europe, as well as in Mesopotamia during the war. About 50,000 of them were killed on the battlefield.