French tourists wrongly deported: NGO

PATNA: The national president of Ekta Parishad, P V Rajgopal, said here on Tuesday that the 10 French tourists visiting Bihar on tourist visa were wrongly 'deported' for the alleged violation of visa conditions. He claimed that the French tourists had no Maoist link and they were not in contact with extremists.
In a statement, Rajgopal said the French tourists were members of a French NGO, Peuples Solidaires, which espoused the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi, Vinoba Bhave and Jaya Prakash Narayan and was spreading their message across the world.He said the French tourists were also supporting the Jan Satyagrah Yatra 2012 of Ekta Parishad, which was launched nationwide for land reforms.
Rajgopal termed the Union home secretary R K Singh's statement that "French tourists had violated visa rules" as childish.
He said the French tourists, including six women, were on tourist visa and so they could visit any district of Bihar. They had come to witness the socioeconomic condition of people of Bihar and the much-talked about development perspective of Bihar. But their 'ill-treatment' had sullied the image of Bihar, Rajgopal said, adding that the government's action against them was antithesis of the concept "Guest is God", as practised in Indian culture.