Hindus have strongly urged newly elected mayor of Sofia (Bulgaria) Yordanka Fandakova to improve the plight of Roma people residing in Sofia, who are reportedly facing apartheid like conditions.

Rajan Zed, acclaimed Hindu statesman, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that mayor Fandakova should make Roma upliftment her first priority, as their maltreatment was a dark stain on the face of Sofia and Bulgaria.

Zed, who is the president of Universal Society of Hinduism, stressed that it was simply immoral to continue staying apathetic and silent spectator ignoring Roma plight, who reportedly regularly faced social exclusion, racism, substandard education, hostility, joblessness, rampant illness, inadequate housing, lower life expectancy, unrest, living on desperate margins, stereotypes, mistrust, rights violations, discrimination, marginalization, appalling living conditions, prejudice, human rights abuse, etc.

Commissioner for Human Rights of Council of Europe Thomas Hammarberg, who recently concluded a three-day visit to Sofia, visited a Roma settlement in the Republika district of Sofia where he assessed the living conditions as inhumane. “No one should live in these conditions in today’s Europe” he declared.

Capital and largest city of Bulgaria, Sofia is the second oldest city in Europe whose roots can be traced back to about 7000 years. Lonely Planet has described Sofia as “city waking up after decades of slumber”.

References to Roma people in Europe, who are believed to have their roots in the Indian subcontinent, reportedly went as far back as ninth century AD.

-Sampurn Media

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