The Hindu : Kerala News : They vote, to elect the French President

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 18, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

They vote, to elect the French President

By Mohamed Nazeer

MAHE, APRIL 17. They form a small closely-knit group that shows little interest in neither the coming Lok Sabha elections nor the election campaigns under way in this tiny outlying region of the Union Territory of Pondicherry. It is not that they are tired of elections. Rather, they feel that they have no business to be involved in the electoral battles here.

They are the erstwhile French loyalists who opted for French citizenship. They do have and exercise the right to cast their votes. But it is to elect the President of France. Last time they exercised their franchise was in 2002 in the French Presidential election. These French citizens of Indian origin in Mahe, who hardly feel excluded from the social mainstream here, consider themselves the heirs to the French legacy in this petite colonie de Francaise, as the French used to call this outlying colony on the West Coast. They still celebrate the storming of the Bastille on July 14 over two centuries ago that marked the start of the French Revolution, observe fete d'Armistice on November 11 to commemorate the end of the First World War, hoist drapeu tricolore, the flag of Republique Francaise, and place wreaths at the statue of Jeanne d'Arc on these occasions.

"The French citizens here have different views when it comes to politics in France, especially during the Presidential elections in France. But in our native place, we are all politically neutral, may be because we have no stake in it," says Panangadan Balakrishnan, the president of Union des Francaise de Mahe, the organisation started in 1963 to represent the French citizens here. They are content that they can cast their votes in the French presidential elections and referendums, adds Mr. Balakrishnan, who served in the French army in the erstwhile Indo-China and Algeria.

At present, there are only 80 French citizens of Indian origin here belonging to 32 families. They include the first generation French loyalists who served the French Army in the French colonies, their wives, sons and daughters. They still get monthly pension from France calculated on the basis of their service and rank. The number of the French citizens here has dwindled over the years and many of the second and third generation citizens prefer to settle down in France. According to the union members, 120-odd French citizens of Mahe origin are permanently settled in France.

It is the union that co-ordinates with French Consulate in Pondicherry for making arrangements for the French citizens here to cast their votes in the French elections. "The voter can either cast his or her vote at the Consulate or nominate another French citizen of Indian origin to cast the vote," says Mr. Balakrishnan.

"I don't read election reports in the newspapers here because the election here does not concern us. But my mind is Indian though I served the French and opted French citizenship," avers 66-year-old Thekeyil Vassou, the general secretary of the union, who lived 26 years in France serving in the French army. Admitting that the French citizens of Mahe will be happy if they are granted dual citizenship, he said that they face no discrimination or difficulty here.

The last French Administrator of Mahe, Deschamps, handed over power to the leaders of the Mahe Liberation Movement on July 16, 1954 at the end of a protracted nationalist struggle, which began with the hoisting of the Indian flag over the Administrator's office here by the late Mahajana Sabha president, I.K. Kumaran, on October 23, 1948.

The nationalist sentiments here were roused by the Independence of the British-ruled India. Although the uprising in Mahe was initially suppressed by the French, they could not stand a second wave of revolt demanding the merger the French Mahe with India. In 1962, all the four former French-ruled areas were merged to form the Union Territory of Pondicherry.

The French citizens here are affluent and are said to be secluded from the mainstream. But they are the ones who perhaps carry the legacy of the French who ruled here for 233 years.

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