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India still in the dark on Bruni’s visit

Vaiju Naravane

France has given India the complete list of names, except one, in the delegation

Sarkozy to be accompanied by business leaders
Will ‘marriage’ be announced at Taj?

Paris: India is still in the dark on whether or not the French President’s girlfriend, ex-super model and pop star Carla Bruni, will be accompanying Mr. Sarkozy when he visits India next week.

The French side has now given India the complete list of names — except one — making up the official delegation accompanying him. Indian embassy officials have been expecting calls from the French protocol office but the telephone has remained ominously silent. Finally, officials here were told they would be given an answer on Monday “or as soon as I know it,” to quote one of Mr. Sarkozy’s closest aides, about Ms. Bruni’s eventual presence in India — a mere three days prior to the President’s scheduled departure on January 24.

India has asked France to decide in what capacity Ms. Bruni will travel to New Delhi if she chooses to go. If she is to be considered his “partner” or spouse India would have no problem at all and hospitality in keeping with her status will be extended unstintingly. However, what officials find unnerving is the absence of any information on that score from the presidential palace. It is possible that Ms. Bruni does not travel on the presidential plane on the 24th but joins Mr. Sarkozy on the 26th in time for the Republic Day parade, the President’s “At Home” in the Rashtrapati Bhavan and a quick visit to the Taj between those two official engagements.

Laid Sammari, the journalist from the Est Republicain newspaper, which alleged that Mr. Sarkozy had secretly wed Ms. Bruni at a private ceremony at the Elysee presidential palace, continues to affirm that the two are man and wife. His sources are “impeccable and serious,” he says. “Why has the Elysee not issued a denial? Why does the President not give a direct answer when questioned? The same thing happened when we broke the story of his divorce. First, there was a refusal to deny or confirm what we said and then, a week later, they had to admit it was true. The same thing will happen now.”

There is speculation among the journalistic fraternity here that Mr. Sarkozy will use his visit to the Taj, the symbol of eternal love, to announce his marriage and the number of journalists scrambling to accompany the President on a visit that will last a little over a day and a half is remarkably high when compared to earlier presidential visits.

Mr. Sarkozy will be accompanied by several ministers and a 60-strong delegation of top business leaders. The Ministers include Jean-Louis Borloo (environment), Christine Lagarde (economy), Hervé Morin (Defence), Valerie Pecresse (Higher Education) and Rama Yade (human rights).

The delegation also includes Mr. Sarkozy’s speechwriter and special adviser, Henri Guaino, and his diplomatic adviser Jean-David Levitte. A name that is surprisingly absent from this list, according to sources contacted by The Hindu, is that of Foreign Affairs Minister Mr. Bernard Kouchner, who visited India last December.

The inclusion of Ms. Yade (32), the most outspoken and youngest member of the French Cabinet, is significant. Ms. Yade, who is of Senegalese origin, was dropped from the list of Ministers who accompanied Mr. Sarkozy to China a few months ago.

It was felt the Minister would make remarks about China’s human rights policy that would upset Beijing. Ms. Yade recently lashed out against the recent controversial visit to France by Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi but quickly fell in line when reprimanded by her boss at the Elysee Palace.

In a recent television interview, she criticised India for its failure to eradicate child labour and said it was outrageous that millions of children were forced to work in India. She has, however, had little to say about human rights abuses in her own country.

France has the worst prisons anywhere in Europe and the treatment meted out to illegal immigrants, often hunted down for expulsion and kept in ill-equipped and over-crowded “retention centres,” is nothing short of shocking. Her presence in India is a risk Mr. Sarkozy feels he can afford to take.

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