Prior to India’s independence on 15 August 1947, Pondicherry, like Chandernagor, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanaon, was a French trading post. The five French trading posts did not join the Indian Union in 1947 but later.

Chandernagor joined the Indian Union in May 1950, but moving the other 4 counters was more complicated. They were transferred de facto to the Indian Union on 1 November 1954, but the surrender agreement was not signed until two years later and did not enter into force until 16 August 1962.

This is the reason why Pondicherry, Karaikal, Mahé and Yanaon celebrate their independence on 16 August and not on 15 August like other parts of the Union of India. November 1, the day the de facto transfer of trading posts to the Indian Union, has been declared Liberation Day and is a public holiday in Pondicherry.

On this day, a military parade is held on the waterfront of the city. This year, it happened under the first rains of the northeast monsoon.

Interviewed by the editorial staff, Raj, a resident of Pondicherry, said that the majority of locals know that November 1 is Pondicherry liberation day and it is a public holiday. But, according to him, apart from institutional events, no one celebrates it with the family.

Transfer of French trading posts to the Indian Union

According to David Annoussamy, author of French Interlude in India, until the independence of India, there was no anti-French movement in Pondicherry. Suddenly, when independence had been guaranteed, the Indian press launched a strong condemnation of what it called “foreign pockets in India.” Immediately after independence, the Indian government in turn declared that they did not recognize French rights at the counter. And since August 28, 1947, France and India through a joint declaration expressed their desire to settle the future of the counter peacefully.

Chandernagor’s attachment is very fast

Chandernagor’s attachment to the Indian Union was swift. The city was first liberated from Pondicherry’s scrutiny, then a referendum was held in 1949 in which voters refused to keep the city within the French Union. However, discussions about the surrender agreement continued and public order was starting to be threatened, France asked India to take over the territory. de factoachieved on May 2, 1950.

In Pondicherry, Karaikal, Mahé and Yanaon, integration into Union India is more difficult

The relocation of the other 4 counters was longer and more complicated: the holding of municipal elections, the proposal for a referendum on annexes to India which was eventually abandoned, the blockade of the counter border and the cessation of electricity supply to Pondicherry.. The years after India’s independence were very important.

Neither France nor India agreed on the method of questioning the population and ultimately the external events that triggered, in 1954, the transfer of Pondicherry and 3 other counters to the Indian Union.

According to David Annoussamy, the French government led by Mendès France who adhered to the decolonization policy needed the Indian government’s help to negotiate with the Viet-minh after the fall of Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam. So he accepted in July 1954 the principle of immediate transfer de facto company, postpone the discussion and signing of the transfer agreement in good and proper form.

An agreement was quickly prepared and accepted by both countries and on November 1, 1954, Pondicherry, Karaikal, Mahé and Yanaon were agreed. de facto transferred to the Indian Union. In the end, residents were never consulted in this process.

The formal surrender agreement was signed two years later, on 28 May 1956, and entered into force on 16 August 1962, six years later.

Choice of citizenship for residents of French trading posts

Under the Surrender Agreement, Pondicherry was returned to Indian territory from 16 August 1962, and its residents were granted Indian citizenship.

However, the agreement provides in articles 5 and 6 a possible option to be exercised within 6 months with a view to the conservation of French citizenship for all persons born in Pondicherry and domiciled in India, including the Company, when the agreement enters into force. According to Articles 7 and 8, persons born in Pondicherry and domiciled elsewhere, and who are not affected by the agreement, may choose to acquire Indian citizenship within the same period.

From the attachment de facto from the counter to the Indian Union, the first wave of Tamils ​​in the region with French citizenship emigrated to France, then the second wave in 1962 when the treaty came into effect. For these people, integration in France was more complicated than they expected (Franco-Indian in Metropolitan France, clash of cultures).

Today, children of Pondicherrians who emigrated to France return to former French trading posts in search of their roots, like Vinna, whom we interviewed (Vinna Vienne, portrait of a young French-Indian woman returning to her ancestral land).