Franch President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday again insisted that Burqa – the head-to-toe veil worn by some Muslim women had no place in secular France.
Burqa is worn by religious-minded and conservative Muslim women all over the world but over the years specially after 9/11 it has become a symbol of “conservatism and fundamentalism’ – something which does not fit into the Western society’s liberal lifestyle.
In August this year, a Parisian pool refused entry to a Muslim woman who was wearing a “burqini”, on the grounds that the head-to-toe swimsuit broke the pool’s hygiene rules. A French newspaper quoted the woman complaining of segregation.
Speaking on a French national identity debate, Sarkozy said, “France is a country where there is no place for the burqa, where there is no place for the subservience of women.” It a major speech on French national identity, the AP reported.
France, home to Europe’s biggest Muslim minority, has set up a special panel of 32 lawmakers to consider whether a law should be enacted to bar Muslim women from wearing the full veil, known as a burqa or niqab.
The country has had a long-running debate on how far it is willing to go to accommodate Islam without undermining the tradition of separating church and state, enshrined in a flagship 1905 law.
In 2004, it passed a law banning headscarves or any other “conspicuous” religious symbols in state schools to defend secularism.
Sarkozy in June said the burqa was not a symbol of religious faith but a sign of women’s “subservience” and declared that the full veil was “not welcome” here.
He was speaking Thursday in the Alpine town of La Chapelle en Vercors in his first intervention in a countrywide debate launched last month on what it means to be French.
Public meetings are due to take place in some 450 government offices around the country, involving campaigners, students, parents and teachers, unions, business leaders and French and European lawmakers.
The debate will end with a conference early next year on the twin questions of “what it means to be French today” and “what immigration contributes to our national identity.”
The Socialist opposition has accused the government of pandering to anti-immigrant sentiment to shore up support on the right ahead of regional elections in March.
It has warned the debate risks alienating France’s large communities of immigrant descent.
But Sarkozy said Thursday that “this is a noble debate” and that “those who do not want this debate are afraid of it.”
Sarkozy made national identity a key campaign theme when he was running for the presidency in 2007.
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Clearly Sarkozy does not know his ass from his face when it comes to Islam. His remarks depict his complete ignorance about the religion…pretty shameful for someone who represents a very large burgeoning french muslim community. Having said that, I do feel if the burqa is not appreciated in France, then the french law-makers are within their right to seek a referendum and based on the outcome decide the course of action. If the will of the majority is against the burqa, so be it, after all in Saudi Arabia (the land of the pious-lol!!!), skirts are banned. I dont think the Saudis would ever tolerate a French woman walking alone wearing a skirt, will they now??