Cession of Pondicherry and Karikalan
From the time India gained its independence from British rule in 1947, it raised the issue of the French settlements on the continent with the Government of France. It took seven years for Puducherry to effectively unite with independent India. Political agitation to achieve this goal began earlier.
In 1787 and 1791, farmers of Karaikal agitated against the heavy land tax imposed by the French. The rebellion of 1857 had an effect in the French settlements but it did not attract the attention of the rulers, as the incidents were few and considered as local. People employed legal means to fight against the French. In 1873, an advocate, Ponnuthammbi Pillai, convinced a Paris court of his cause. He won the case in which he was fined by a French magistrate in Pondicherry for walking into the court with footwear.
Student protests in 1927 and 1930 expressed their desire for an end of French oversight. Leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Bal Gangadhar Tilak visited Pondicherry and its other enclaves and addressed the meetings. In 1934, Swami and friends, a monthly, was started by veteran independence activist and trade union leader R.K. Narayan for the cause of workers and the country.
Police control, which warranted trade union unrest, further increased civilian agitation against the colonial government. In the late 1930, grassroots organizations known as mahajana sabhas were started in Pondicherry and Karaikal. These groups, along with trade unions, organized the Non-Cooperation Movement. During the Second World War, Puducherry supported France with men and materiel. Deaths among French-Indian soldiers caused unrest in the enclaves.
In 1946, the French India Congress was formed with the objective of integrating the French possessions with India. Later the following year, the French India Students Congress adopted a resolution on merger. In January 1948, the French People's Convention passed a resolution expressing its determination to merge the French possessions with India. The Communist Party asked the people to accept only the merger.
The post-independence government under Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was anxious to integrate the French Indian territories with the country. Fr. Jerome D'Souza - a member of the Constituent Assembly of India - was appointed by the Government of India to negotiate with the French authorities in Pondicherry. As a result of these negotiations, the French agreed to hold a referendum in their territories regarding the political status of the French territories in India. [5] However, sensing that the result of the referendum may not be in favor of merger with India, the Government of India withdrew support for the referendum. [6] The Congress Party issued a declaration that the people of Pondicherry were not interested in the referendum for various reasons. [7] [8] India signed an agreement with France in June 1948 which gave power to the people to determine the political status of their land. Accordingly, municipal elections in Pondicherry, Karaikal and Yanam were held in October 1948. All municipalities except one elected representatives of the French India Socialist Party, a pro-French group. The new councillors at a meeting accepted the autonomy offered by the French Government.
The Indian Government continued to press for unification, pledging a distinct status and help for Puducherry after its merger with India.
As the unification movement gathered momentum under Subbiah, the pro-French leader Edouard Goubert switched his loyalty to the pro-merger camp. This movement was coordinated by many leaders like D.K.Ramanujam and Mr. Chandrasekara Reddiar. A momentous event in the freedom movement of Puducherry occurred on 18 March 1954, when the members of the executive council and mayors of Pondicherry and seven adjoining communes proclaimed their decision to merge with India without a referendum. All the communes in Karaikal also followed suit. This decision was to be confirmed by the Representative Assembly. When the Socialist Party was preparing to move the merger resolution, the French governor scuttled it by postponing the session. Provoked by this, the Socialists planned to capture the outlying communes one by one and move to Pondicherry. The Communist Party was also ready to launch a campaign of direct action to merge Puducherry with India. Accordingly, the leaders of the Socialist Party hoisted the Indian national flag atop the Nettapakkam police station on the last day of March in 1954. Subsequently, many villages in Mannadipet and Bahour communes came under the sway of the pro-merger forces. In the Karaikal region, all the communes and Karaikal municipality passed a resolution in favour of merger. The National Youth Congress began a Satyagraha. An independence activists' procession was charged by police using lathi and the flags carried by the processionists were seized and torn by the French Indian Police.Mr. Chandrasekara Reddiar and D.K. Ramanujam were arrested. [9]
India and France, following talks, issued a joint statement on 13 October 1954 announcing a procedure for deciding the status of the French settlements. Five days later, on 18 October 1954 the elected members of the Representative Assembly and the municipal councillors of Pondicherry and Karaikkal took part in a referendum at Kizhur. Of the 178 members voting, an overwhelming majority of 170 members favoured the merger of French Indian territories with the Republic of India. Three days later, an agreement on the de facto transfer of the French territories to India was signed in New Delhi between the two countries.
A treaty of cession was signed by the two countries in May 1956. It was ratified by the French parliament in May 1962. On 16 August 1962 India and France exchanged the instruments of ratification under which France ceded to India full sovereignty over the territories it held. Pondicherry and the other enclaves of Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam came to be administered as the Union Territory of Puducherry from 1 July 1963.
