Above: Photo of Rajinder Singh taken on a recent birthday. Below, tributes paid to him at the Paris Metro site of his death.
People
France Hails A Hero: Rajinder 'Babu' Singh
FRANCE TODAY
When it was first reported, the story of a man dying on the Paris métro system didn't make much of an impact on headline writers in France.
He had apparently been pushed on to the track and been electrocuted.
It's
the kind of story you hear about from time to time - one of those news
items that probably tends to wash over you as "oh, just another story".
Except behind the headline of course was much more, as the daily Le Parisien revealed in a tribute it paid to Rajinder Singh, the man known by his nearest and dearest (and the rest of us now) as "Babu".
The
33-year-old Sikh-Frenchman was reportedly travelling on the métro
when he saw a pickpocket try to steal a mobile 'phone from a fellow
passenger.
Rajinder Singh intervened, coming to the woman's assistance, asking the man to "leave her alone."
But a struggle then followed and continued as the train pulled into the next stop.
The two men got off and the pickpocket began punching Rajinder, finally pushing him off the platform and running away.
Rajinder Singh was electrocuted.
And there the story might have ended, except for the reaction to a profile of Rajinder which Le Parisien ran the day after the incident.
It
was a simple tribute to a man born in Punjab who
had come to France seven years ago to "be able to work to send money
home to his family and give them a better life," as one of his cousins
told the newspaper.
A gentle man, opposed to violence of any sort, Rajinder Singh was described by one of his friends as "goodness personified".
His family wanted his body returned to India, but couldn't afford it.
His death - one which Le Parisien said left no one indifferent - provoked what TF1 news called
"an astounding show of solidarity," with messages on the Internet, and
his brother-in-law Jean-Louis Lecomte, receiving 'phone calls of support
and letters of donation.
On Wednesday a minute's silence
was held at the station where Rajinder had died, with France's Minister of
Transport, Thierry Mariani, and the Minister of Culture, Frédéric
Mitterrand, among those paying homage.
RATP, the public transport operator for the Paris region, has agreed to meet the costs of repatriating Rajinder's body to Punjab.
Police have arrested a man they suspect of being the pickpocket who pushed Rajinder to his death.
October 10, 2011
Conversation about this article
1: Gurmeet Kaur (Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A.), October 10, 2011, 8:44 AM.
This breaks my heart. On my visit to Paris a couple of years ago, I met several Sikh youth from Punjab selling miniature Eifel towers to tourists, some of them for over 15 years. They were still repaying the loans their families took by mortgaging their lands to pay off the agents. For each young man there was a mother, a sister and the rest of the family in Punjab to support and that they would not see them any time soon, as they were "paperless". That evening on the soil of France, we laughed and wept together reminiscing the soil of Punjab. A 14 year old didn't want to let go, the departing embrace. When they found out I was on my way to Darbar Sahib, they wanted to give me money as an offering on their behalf. I have tears in my eyes thinking that many of them will be embraced by their mothers only in the coffins - if at all.
2: Raj (Canada), October 10, 2011, 10:38 AM.
I too met many young Sikh boys selling novelties in Europe. It's sad that our youth can't find half-decent work in Punjab and the politicians can't fulfill their own hunger for accumulating huge amounts of money in Swiss banks.
3: Devinder Pal Singh (Delhi, India), October 10, 2011, 11:21 AM.
A very sad incident in which a young life was lost. Rajinder felt it was his duty to help the sufferer in the true Sikh spirit and deed. I am also touched by the solidarity expressed by the French who have shown respect and who have recognized the spirit of Rajinder Singh helping a fellow passenger in desperate need. May God grant him eternal peace.
4: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), October 10, 2011, 3:05 PM.
The true spirit of Sikhi is to help and uphold the honour of the weak. Thousands of Sikh soldiers and officers died in France to save the world from totalitarianism during the two World Wars. Rajinder Singh too did his duty and paid the ultimate price.