Once Rammohan went to France but he was not given the permission to enter France. From there he came to England but felt severely ill. He was hospitalised. In hospital, he felt that India would shine among all the Asian countries. He had written a letter to the French foreign minister which was as follows:
‘‘Respected Minister,
My country is much far away from France. I am the citizen of India. You would surely be surprised by this letter of mine. We all know that France is an independent nation. I respect France as well as India. Inspired by France I am making a request to you. If I would not get inspired by France then I would not have troubled you. I am desired to visit France since last twelve years. The reason is that it possesses beautiful nature in itself. It is considered well conversant in art and science. It has the fortune of most independent constitution. But in India social reform movements are taking place for last many years. Today I have come to the shore of your country after solving several religious problems in India. When I reached here, I was not allowed to enter France. I was informed that firstly I have to take the permission of a French ambassador or a minister. Otherwise, I would not be allowed to enter France.
There is no such rule in the Asian countries except China where we have to take permission to enter their premises. This rule exists in China because it fears that somebody would come to their country and spread the new religions and customs. But I don’t understand why there is need of taking permission to enter France? Whereas France is well known for its hospitality in the whole world.
The human beings of the world are considered as a family. The scientists have made it clear that the tribes living in different countries are the part of this family. All the members of this family are not wise, but the wiser among them want to see every body happy and satisfied. They want to clear the hurdles coming in each other’s ways. They want to unite them into an organisation. They have great desires to provide them various kinds of facilities.
I don’t understand the kind of rule regarding the entry in your country. In future it may be possible that when two countries engage in wars then they would close their borders for each other. This is rather justified. But if a man is not allowed to enter a country, then this is not justifiable. If France was waging a war with neighbouring countries then the situation would have been certainly critical. But under normal circumstances, why are there so much restrictions?
I have observed that since last few years, there is peace in Europe. English and French governments have cordial relations among themselves. Then why has France put such types of restrictions? I am not able to find any answer to this. I am seeing some deficiency in the hospitality of France. In my views, inspite of peace every where there are the following of restrictions imposed by France.
If a French man says that a bad character should not get permission to enter France it means only that the permission letter given by the French ambassador is not based on a character certificate. This is also clear that the ambassador doesn’t test the character of person to whom he issues the permission letter. If French government restricts the entry of people then this problem won’t get resolved by imposing such restrictions. If it wants to restrict those culprits who are betraying law, this problem can be solved if France joins hands, with other countries.
If France wants to put restrictions on those debtors who want to run away after taking loans from the money lenders, then here France is not correct. Because in that case the culprit is punished for only a few days and then set free. So, for the debtor to leave his country willingly is a bigger punishment than that punishment.
If France has put restrictions due to political reasons, then this does not apply upon me. But I feel that if two nations have political differences, then they would put their cases before a world organisation. It refer to the Congress. In this organisation, there should be equal number of members from all nations. Both the nations should follow the decision of the majority. The chairman of the organisation should be elected for one year. The sessions should be held every year in different countries. By doing this, the political differences of all the countries can be resolved very easily.
Congress is an organisation which is able to resolve the differences among the two nations, be it political or commercial. It may help them establish neutral relations. This may prevail for a very long time.
I want to mention that the businessmen who frequently visit many places, face many problems, due to the restriction of permission letter. This may also be a problem for those who face any kind of difficulties. I want to make it clear that the feeling behind permission letter is that the petitioner has to give his character certificate to get the permission letter. But because of the fear of non acceptance, he was feeling shy because in case of non acceptance it meant that his character was bad. He is not a good citizen.
Come what may, I have a keen desire to visit France. I want to see France at any cost. French government should reconsider the restrictions imposed by it. If it does not, then it should agree with me to some conditions. It should allow me to enter France, then I would feel very disappointed. So the government should consider my letter and reply me as soon as possible.
Yours Sincerely
Rammohan Roy
