PM Modi visits Mazargues war cemetery, pays tribute to fallen Indian soldiers
Paris (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday visited the historic Mazargues Cemetery in Marseille city here along with French President Emmanuel Macron and paid tribute to the Indian soldiers who made sacrifices fighting in the Great War.
At a solemn ceremony held at the site, Modi laid a wreath composed of tricolour-themed flowers and Macron also laid a wreath.
Paying homage to the soldiers who laid down their lives fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with their French counterparts during World War I, Modi paid tribute with folded hands and a gentle bow at the iconic site that also has an 'Indian Memorial'.
A band played on the lawns enhancing the solemnity of the occasion.
Later, the two leaders took a walk on the premises of the cemetery and laid roses on memorial tablets installed on a wall inside a stone pavilion at the historic cemetery.
A large number of Indian soldiers are commemorated in this war cemetery that is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC).
Modi, who is on a three-day visit to France, on Tuesday co-chaired the AI Action Summit along with President Macron and addressed business leaders.
He arrived in Paris on February 10.
The First World War, also called the Great War, took place during 1914-18 while the Second World War happened during 1939-45.
According to the website of the CWGC, "There are now 1,487, 1914-18 and 267, 1939-45 war casualties commemorated in this site. 205 of the Indian casualties, who were cremated, are commemorated on a memorial at the rear of the cemetery."
The Mazargues Indian Memorial was unveiled by Field Marshal Sir William Birdwood in July 1925.
"In addition, eight members of the Egyptian Labour Corps, who were buried in Le Canet New Communal Cemetery at the time, but whose graves were later lost, are commemorated on a stone tablet on the left-hand wall of the war cemetery," it said.
The cemetery covers an area of 9,021 sq m, as per the CWGC website.
Mazargues is a southern suburb (the 9th Arrondissement), some six kilometres from the centre of Marseilles in France.
Marseilles was the base of the Indian troops in France during the 1914-18 war and throughout the War the Royal Navy, the Merchant Navy, British troops and labour units worked in the port or passed through it, the CWGC website said.
Four of the town cemeteries were used, in the main, for the burial of officers and men of the Commonwealth forces who died at Marseilles. At St. Pierre Cemetery, on the east side of the town, the bodies of Hindu soldiers and labourers were cremated in 1914-16.
Le Canet Old Cemetery and Le Canet New Cemetery, on the north side, were in 1917-19, the places of burial for Indian soldiers and Indian, Egyptian and Chinese labourers, it added.
Mazargues Cemetery, on the south-east side, was used less in the War, but before the Armistice, an extension was made, to which were removed, a little later, the bodies or ashes from the four town cemeteries and from Port St. Louis-du-Rhone Communal Cemetery, according to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
In April 2015, Prime Minister Modi during his visit to France paid homage to the World War I memorial in Neuve Chapelle, to honour around 4,700 Indian soldiers who laid down their lives in battles in France and Belgium during the Great War.
"Our soldiers who fought in foreign lands in the Great War, have won the admiration of the world for dedication, loyalty, courage and sacrifice. I salute them," the Prime Minister had written in the visitor's book at the memorial.
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Health minister Wes Streeting's resignation piles pressure on UK PM Starmer
London (PTI): UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting resigned from the Cabinet on Thursday, declaring that he had lost confidence in the leadership of Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
As a frontrunner to replace Starmer at 10 Downing Street, Streeting is expected to launch his bid to be elected Labour leader if he can secure the backing of the party's requisite 81 members of Parliament.
It piles further pressure on Starmer, who has been attempting to quell an internal rebellion over the devastating results for the governing party in last week’s local elections.
“It is now clear that you will not lead the Labour Party into the next general election and that Labour MPs and Labour unions want the debate about what comes next to be a battle of ideas, not of personalities or petty factionalism," Streeting said in his resignation letter addressed to Starmer.
“It needs to be broad, and it needs to be the best possible field of candidates. I support that approach and I hope you will facilitate it,” he said.
The former minister accused his boss of lacking any vision and overseeing a power “vacuum” and also went on to highlight his own record of leading the Department for Health and Social Care and state-funded National Health Service (NHS).
Streeting added: “The National Health Service is the embodiment of all that is best about Britain and our values. Thanks to our Labour government, it is on the road to recovery: lots done, but so much more to do.
“These are all good reasons for me to remain in post, but as you know from our conversation earlier this week, having lost confidence in your leadership, I have concluded that it would be dishonourable and unprincipled to do so.”
His words are being interpreted as paving the way for a Labour leadership contest, with former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband among his other expected rivals.
While some indications are that this process may not be triggered any time soon, Starmer's future as Labour leader is looking extremely tenuous if the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) gets involved in a formal election process.
Meanwhile, Rayner issued a statement earlier to confirm that she had been cleared by the UK tax authorities of any wrongdoing over her financial affairs that had forced her to step down from the Cabinet last year.
"I took reasonable care and acted in good faith, based on the expert advice I received, and HMRC [His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs] has accepted this," she said.
This is seen as her declaring her intention to be ready to join the fray, should a Labour leadership election be launched.
The latest turmoil at the top of the British government comes after a series of junior ministerial resignations, with Starmer staying the course by announcing their replacements. Earlier his ally, Chancellor Rachel Reeves, cautioned her colleagues to refrain from plunging the country into chaos and putting the UK’s economic recovery at risk.
“We shouldn’t put that at risk by plunging the country into chaos at a time when there is conflict in the world, but also at a time when our plan to grow the economy is starting to bear fruit," she said.
However, the deep divisions within the Labour Party ranks are only expected to escalate further in the coming days and weeks.
