France honours India in Bastille Day parade

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy (L) shakes hands with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh upon arrival at the Place de la Concorde in Paris to attend the Bastille Day parade yesterday. Photo: AFP

A proud detachment of Indian troops yesterday led thousands of French comrades down the Champs Elysees in Paris for the annual military parade to mark the Bastille Day national holiday.
The 400 soldiers filed down the elegant venue under the eyes of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, invited by President Nicolas Sarkozy to mark France's strategic relationship with the world's biggest democracy.
Dressed in ceremonial uniforms of red and black headdress, cummerbunds and white putees and gloves, the Indians marched from the Arc de Triomphe to the presidential stand at the end of the 1.5-kilometre (one mile) parade.
Drawn from the army, navy and the air force, the contingent paraded to the sound of Indian martial music played by a 90-member band in a ceremony shown live by all Indian television news channels.
French air force jets flew overhead, releasing trails of red, white and blue smoke to represent the colours of the French flag, and the parade came to a close with parachutists floating down on to the Place des Invalides.
Singh and Sarkozy were joined in the presidential stand by the French president's pop star wife Carla Bruni, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, German President Horst Koehler and other dignitaries.