Saturday 16 July 2016

16 JUL 1954 MAHE-YANAM FREED FROM FRENCH

FREEDOM STRUGGLE IN PONDICHERRY
 
 
V. Sankaran
 
 
    At the time of India's Independence in 1947, Pondicherry was under French control. It took seven years for Pondicherry to achieve freedom. During these years, Pondicherry witnessed spontaneous uprisings against its rulers culminating in the setting of a free government. 
 Twin Role
    Pondicherry has a unique place in the history of the freedom movement in the country. It played a twin role, first it had to fight for its own freedom and secondly, it gave active support to the Independence struggle against the British.Great nationalists like Aurobindo and Subramaniam Bharati took asylum in Pondicherry when Britishers were out to arrest them. During his stay in Pondicherry, Bharati edited "India" after it was banned in Madras by the British administration. It was in Pondicherry that the revolutionary V.V. Subramaniya Iyer gave arms training to Vanchinathan, the youth who later killed the then Tirunelveli collector Ashe, a white man.
    The freedom movement, in French dominated parts of India dates back from the days the British left India. However, even earlier there were agitations now and then against the French rulers. Way back in 1787 and 1791, farmers of Karaikal agitated against the heavy land tax imposed by the French. The first war of Indian Independence had its impact 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, moved the Paris court and won the case in which he was awarded a penalty by a French Magistrate in Pondicherry for walking into the court with footwear.
    The freedom movement in the British India had its echo in Pondicherry also. There were student agitations in 1927 and 1930 which exhibited their sentiments. Leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Bal Gangadhar Tilak visited Pondicherry and its other enclaves and addressed the meetings. In 1934, "Swatantram", a monthly, was started by veteran freedom fighter and trade union leader V.Subbiah for the cause of workers and the country.
    The police firing, in which twelve trade union workers were killed , further increased the anger of the people against their rulers. In the late thirties, Mahajana sabhas were opened in Pondicherry and Karaikal. This organisation, alongwith trade unions organised Non-Cooperation Movement. During the second world war, Pondicherry supported France with men and materials. However, the youth became indignant when a large number of French-Indian soldiers died at the warfront.

The Merger
    In 1946, the French India Congress was formed with the objective of integrating the French possessions with India. Later next 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 the motherland. The Communist Party also asked the people to accept only the merger.
    The new Government under Jawahar Lal Nehru was anxious to integrate the French Indian territories with the country. India signed an agreement with France in June 1948 which gave power to the people for determining the political status of their land. Accordingly, the municipal elections in Pondicherry, Karaikal and Yanam were held in October, 1948. The elections were rigged and all municipalities except one were captured by the French India Socialist Party, a pro-French outfit. The new councillors at a meeting accepted the autonomy offered by the French Government. However, their efforts were thwarted by the Indian Government that assured a distinct status and help for Pondicherry after its merger with India.
    As the freedom movement gathered momentum under V. Subbiah, the pro-French leader Eduvard Goubert switched his loyalty to pro-merger camp. A momentous event in the freedom movement of Pondicherry occurred on March 18, 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 and when the Socialist party was preparing to move the merger resolution, the French Governor scuttled it by postponing the session. Provoked by this, the Socialist party planned to capture the outlying communes one by and one and move to Pondicherry. The Communist Party was also ready to launch a campaign of direct action to merge Pondicherry 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-mergerists. In the Karaikkal region, all the communes and Karaikkal municipality passed a resolution in favour of merger. The National Youth Congress began a Satyagraha. A freedom fighters' procession was lathi charged and the flags carried by the processionists were seized and torn by the French Indian Police.
    India and France, following talks, issued a joint statement on March 13, 1954 announcing a modality for deciding the status of the French settlements. Five days later the elected members of the Representative Assembly and the municipal councillors of Pondicherry and Karaikkal took part in a referendum at Keeloor. Of the 178 members voted, an overwhelming majority of 170 members favoured the merger of French Indian territories with the motherland. Three days after, an agreement on the defacto 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 August 16, 1962 India and France exchanged the instruments of ratification under which France ceded to India's full sovereignty over the territories it held. Pondicherry and other enclaves of Karaikkal, Mahe and Yanam came to be administered as Union Territory of Pondicherry from July 1, 1963.

Liberation of Mahe and Yanam
    Conditions became intolerable in Yanam ever since its Mayor and other representatives of Yanam adopted the merger resolution. The mayor, deputy mayor and over 200 people took refuge in the adjacent areas of the Indian Union. Police and hired hoodlums from Yanam assaulted the refugees on the Indian soil. It was then that the refugees marched into Yanam under the leadership of Mayor Satyanandam and took over the administration. After hoisting the Indian National Flag, the liberators adopted a resolution declaring Yanam liberated. Close on the heels, in Mahe, the Mahajana sabha under its president, I.K. Kumaran began a picketing programme. Some days later, hundreds of volunteers marched into Mahe to stage a demonstration in front of the administrator's residence. They were joined by the citizens of the enclave. On July 16, 1954, Kumaran took over the administration from the French administrator marking the end of the French rule of 228 years in Mahe.
    Under the Indo-French Agreement in June 1948, the first municipal elections were held in Chandernagore, also a French territory. In August that year the Congress Karmaparishad won 22 out of the 24 seats. The new municipal assembly overwhelmingly voted for its merger with the Indian Union and the Government of India took control of Chandernagore on June 9, 1952. Later, it became a part of the Hoogly district of West Bengal. Thus with the liberation of Mahe and Yanam from French subjugation, Pondicherry became a part of the Indian Union.
 
 
 


  
  
 
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