Macron awards Modi top honour as France marks Bastille Day amid fears of violence

PARIS - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was scheduled to be the guest of honour for France’s Bastille Day celebrations on Friday, which were set to take place under tight security two weeks after

riots swept the country

.

Around 45,000 police were to be deployed nationwide in the evening.

Firework sales were banned as the government aimed to prevent a repeat of the urban violence seen at the end of June, following

the police killing of a teenager

.

The annual Bastille Day festivities mark the storming of the Bastille prison at the start of the French Revolution in 1789.

The events kicked off with a traditional military parade in the morning that saw tanks, planes and soldiers sweeping down the Champs Elysees.

Ahead of the ceremony, French President Emmanuel Macron awarded Mr Modi the grand cross of the Legion of Honour, the country’s top order of merit.

Mr Modi hailed it as “an honour for the 1.4 billion residents of India”.

The award was granted to salute “the role of the Prime Minister in the excellent relations of friendship and confidence that unite France and India”, the French presidency said in a statement. The honouring of Mr Modi reflects deepening ties between France and India, which are marking 25 years of “strategic partnership”.

The Indian Defence Ministry on Thursday announced its

intention to procure another 26 French-made Rafale fighter jets

as well as three more Scorpene-class submarines in a deal expected to be worth billions of euros.

India has already purchased 36 Rafales, three of which flew over Paris during Friday’s parade.

Mr Macron’s red-carpet welcome comes weeks after

Mr Modi was given the rare honour of a White House state dinner

in Washington – a city he was once banned from visiting.

Despite differences over the war in Ukraine and tensions over human rights in India, Western democracies are courting Mr Modi and India as a military and economic counterweight to China.

Mr Macron told a meeting of military leaders on Thursday evening that India was “a giant of world history which will have a decisive role for our future”.

Mr Modi called Mr Macron his “friend” in a speech to Indians living in France on Thursday evening.

“This closeness is not limited to just the leaders of two countries; it is in fact a reflection of the unwavering friendship between India and France,” Mr Modi said.

‘Loss of confidence’

Bastille Day was set to be a more sober affair than in previous years, following five nights of rioting from June 27 after the fatal police shooting of a teenager in a Paris suburb.

The most intense urban clashes in nearly two decades saw thousands of cars torched, public property destroyed and more than 3,700 people arrested, many of them minors.

Some towns cancelled their traditional fireworks displays out of fear of violence, and buses and trams were scheduled to stop running in the Paris region from 10pm.

“Can you believe that in the great democracy of France, we are giving up on our national day because of the fear generated by potential violence or potential riots by some people?” far-right opposition leader Marine Le Pen said on Wednesday. She called the government measures “an admission of a total loss of confidence in the state”.

Security forces were deployed en masse ahead of Bastille Day on Thursday night, which had been “relatively calm”, the Interior Ministry said.

The main Paris fireworks display was set to go ahead, to be watched by Mr Macron and Mr Modi after they attended a banquet with 200 guests at the Louvre Museum.

The two leaders were also set to make statements to the media around 5pm.

Hindu nationalism

Amid the diplomatic courting of Mr Modi, a resolution from the European Parliament on Thursday served as a reminder that he and his Hindu nationalist agenda have garnered critics at home and abroad.

European Union parliamentarians approved a motion urging India to end the violence in north-eastern Manipur state and to protect minorities there.

Clashes between the majority Meitei, who are mostly Hindus, and the mainly Christian Kuki tribe have left at least 120 people dead, 50,000 displaced and more than 1,700 houses destroyed, the Parliament said.

It criticised the “nationalistic rhetoric” of the local state government, run by Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.

Honouring Mr Modi at Bastille Day was “an affront not only to India’s minority communities, journalists and human rights defenders, but also to India as a democracy”, the text’s chief negotiator Pierre Larrouturou said afterwards.

Leading French academic and Indian specialist Christophe Jaffrelot said Mr Modi was “in the process of deconstructing India’s democratic institutions” in an article published this week.

The Indian leader lauded his country’s economic performance under his stewardship in his Thursday speech to thousands of Indians living in France and stressed the country’s growing clout in global affairs.

“India is the mother of democracy and India is the model of diversity. This is a great strength of ours,” he added. AFP