Towards Freedom in Pondicherry: Society, Economy and Politics under French Rule (1816–1962)

Description

Pondicherry had its own history due to its connection with the French. After delving deeply into social, cultural, economic aspects of the Pondicherry society, the study focuses on politics and the freedom movement as it developed there, using sources written in Tamil, English and French. But when the freedom movement gathered steam in British India, Pondicherry and its dependencies were caught between the ideas of joining the French Union, or the Indian Union. Goubert’s Socialist Party’s strategy had always been to safeguard French India’s special identity and interests. He and his party associates and supporters turned against the French offer to hold a referendum on the question of independence and decided to join the Indian Union, because Jawaharlal Nehru provided him a better guarantee to safeguard French Indian and Pondicherry interests. It was rather a very well planned move that took all his political adversaries including the French by surprise. Goubert actually won his battle without bloodshed, by accepting to bear a certain dishonor for that among the French. The French government finally chose to set aside the constitutional provisions of Article 27 of the French Constitution, which stipulated that no cession, or exchange or addition to the territories was valid without the consent of the concerned population. Thus, they disregarded the population of French India deliberately and scuttled out of French India. Earlier, they had given away the loges to India even without consulting the parliament or the people concerned, but now they threw overboard the French constitutional provision to disengage themselves from India permanently, after obtaining some weak guarantees for their cultural presence. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction Chapter 1: Society, Land and Economy Chapter 2: Emergence of the Professional Class Chapter 3: Administration and Politics Chapter 4: British Indian Stalwarts in Pondicherry Chapter 5: From Revolt to Anti-Fascism, 1936-1945 Chapter 6: Nationalist Awakening in Pondicherry Chapter 7: The Rise of Goubert Chapter 8: Goubert’s Sway Continues Chapter 9: Towards Integration Chapter 10: Curtains Down on French Rule in India Chapter 11: Merger with India Conclusions and Observations Annexure Biographical Notes Bibliography Index