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'An untouchable in Elysees'

'An untouchable in Elysees' is how the French media has chosen to report the state visit of President K R Narayanan, the first ever by an Indian President.

Though politicians and diplomats on either side have been hailing the visit as "very crucial and an important milestone on the road of strengthening bilateral relations", the public perception here in France seems to be quite different.

The efforts to bring the two societies closer culturally seem to have stumbled at the first step itself and the visit is quickly turning into a media nightmare for the Indian diplomats.

The two biggest newspapers, Le Monde and Le Figaro have highlighted the caste of the President, saying that though he has become the first Dalit President of India, the fate of millions of other Dalits is far less glorious.

Rightwinger Le Figaro devoted an entire page to India, but focused only on the plight of Dalits and the "rise of Hindu fundamentalism and the RSS."

Though Le Monde was the only French newspaper to be given an interview by the President, the newspaper again chose to headline the interview on his caste.

Lalit Mansingh, foreign secretary, said that the usage lacked taste, dignity and grace.

"But we believe it does not reflect the popular French attitude," Mansingh told journalists at a press conference on Monday evening.

Kanwal Sibal, the Indian ambassador to France, said that the French society had a certain fascination for the caste system in India and that the articles were more about the changes in the Indian society.

Sibal said that the Indian embassy had sent a letter of protest to the newspaper, saying the newspapers should not have restricted itself to a very narrow aspect to describe the historic visit of the President.

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