French Muslim minister backs headscarf ban

MUMBAI: It is always refreshing to meet a Muslim woman who wields power in government and does not hesitate to speak her mind. Meet Tokia Saifi, of Algerian origin, minister of state for sustainable development in the French government.
She favours a white pant suit, bobbed hair, lipstick, and shades on her head. And although she was in the city to attend the World Social Forum, she doesn''t spare the Left parties in France.
With a five-million-strong Muslim population mostly of immigrant origin, France is currently exercised over a proposed law banning the prominent display of religious symbols in schools, including headscarves by Muslim schoolgirls.
"I strongly support the ban," she says emphatically. "Insistence on a dress code is one more way in which Islamic people are manipulated by the fundamentalists, and must be nipped in the bud. People must be able to choose what to wear, the mullahs should not force them."
She is annoyed that the real issues of Muslim immigrants are being side-tracked by distractions like the dress code.
"The real discrimination against immigrants and their descendants is economic. Unemployment in France is around 10 per cent, but among French immigrants it is 60 per cent and must be given priority," she says.
Saifi, who has also been a member of the European Parliament and vice-president of the European parliamentary delegation for relations with Maghreb and Gulf nations, has risen from the ranks.
The daughter of Algerian immigrants who migrated to France in 1945, she was born in northern France into a family of seven boys and three girls. Her father used to be a worker in the iron and steel industry.
"Since I was young I have been involved in movements fighting discrimination against immigrants, especially since the rise of (extreme right-wing leader) Jean-Marie Le Pen," she says.