German TV station accused of Islamophobia after producing ‘Muslim Merkel’ image

“The prime minister has a very ambitious economic development program for India and Germany intends to contribute to it and support it”, Merkel said, mentioning agriculture, economy, defense and internal security as a few of the areas in which the two countries could cooperate.

A joint statement by the two countries also underlined the commitment towards “protection of human rights and democratic values”, something which raised eyebrows but Indian government sources said these were only issues no two genuine democracies can disagree on.

Despite the Goods and Service Tax (GST) getting stuck in a noisy Rajya Sabha, he Prime minister said he was confident that the path-breaking bill would be rolled out next year.

“Thus, just in 15 months, we have successfully restored the credibility of India in the eyes of global players”, he told the business leaders – the who’s who of the India Inc, particularly the IT sector, as also the German industry.

German TV station ARD has come under fire after broadcasting a Photoshopped image of Angela Merkel dressed in a headscarf against a backdrop of minarets towering over the Reichstag.

“We see Germany as a natural partner in achieving our vision of India’s economic transformation”. Around 1,600 German companies operate in India and 200 of them were based in the city, she said.

“It is the software of India that will move the hardware across the world; It is the talent of India that will master the technology; It is the market of India that will motivate manufacturing,” he said.

“Mr Modi is obviously giving a lot of importance to the visit”.

Five B2B (business-to-business) agreements were exchanged in the presence of Modi and Merkel at the event.

Merkel also welcomed the Indian government’s decision to kick-start the stalled negotiations for a FTA with the EU, saying that a Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) between the two parties would help India attract investment from the 28-member European bloc. “Germany can push many things within Europe,” he said.

Official estimates are of 800,000 arrivals this year but a confidential government report leaked to German newspaper, Bild, suggested it could rise as high as 7.36 million – nearly 10% of Germany’s total population.