Unsettling Utopia: The Making and Unmaking of French India A Review

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

Unsettling Utopia: The Making and Unmaking of French India

Jessica Namakkal

New York Columbia University Press, 2021.

Pondicherry has perfected the art of the revolving door politics. Political loyalties are fluid and personalities matter more than party ideology or organization. Jessica Namakkal has studied the politics of the French Colony from the middle of the nineteenth century till the establishment of the township of Auroville in 1968, a dream project of the Mother of the Ashram. Are the two institutions, the Ashram created by Sri Aurobindo and the township of Auroville inspired by the utopian ideal of finding perfection in human societies. Her argument that both these institutions represent a continuity with the colonial past makes sense in the light of recent developments. 

Pondicherry merged with the Indian Union in 1954 and the process of achieving the "merger" was fraught with both drama and hard nailed real politik. This book unpacks some of the main contours of the social and institutional changes that took place in the region as a direct consequence of French policies initiated during the Third Republic. Her area of study is restricted to the Pondicherry region and ignores the developments in Chandranagore near Calcutta now Kolkata. An aspect of recent history that all historians dealing with what is grandly termed "decolonization" ignore is the fact that French territories in India, as distinct from Indo-Chine was the allegiance to Fighting France under Charles de Gaulle during the years of the Second World War. As an ally, French authorities were ably assisted by the Police and other agencies of British India. In the interwar years a number of political prisoners took refuge in Pondicherry including Sri Aurbindo, V S S Iyer, Vanchinathan and Bharathi. After the outbreak of World War II the tide turned towards repression and the use of non state muscle men called "goondas" in the local patios. Jessica uses the same term throughout the book without the least irony or explanation. 

Pondicherry during the Third Republic was the site of a republican experiment that tries unsuccessfully to weld the revolutionary idea of Egalite or equality with the new fangled ideas of Racism and civilizational hierarchies were being discussed in the Parisian saloons and intellectuals. The justification for French colonialism was their mission civilisatrice or Civilizing Mission. The republican adherence to the values of the Revolution meant that citizenship was extended to colonial subjects and in this France under the Third Republic was certainly more progressive than the Portuguese, Dutch and the British colonizers. This progressive measure was tempered by the formal renunciation of Indian customs and religion. The introduction of this policy created conditions that were to complicate the transition to Indian statehood. The author seems to imply that the French authorities freely deployed armed men to attack and sometimes even kill those who were in favor of Indian statehood/merger in the contrived linguistic use in Pondicherry. 

The fact is that the conditions of World War II and the relatively smooth relations between French and British authorities introduced an element of uncertainty as far as the future of Pondicherry was concerned. And given the caste configuration of Pondicherry, the French authorities unlike the British permitted the tapping of toddy and settled a sizeable number (nadar/gramini/ udaiya) in areas lie Saram, Mudiliarpet, Bahour and Karaikal. The lucrative liquor vends were largely in the hands of these privileged groups and so a steady pool of armed men ready and able to enforce the will of their French masters was readily available and this was a factor that contributed to the violence that Rajkumar and B Krishnamurthy have spoken of.

This book is written in a style and tenor of a "post colonial" narrative. There are important issues that have been left out and the thesis that the Ashram and Auroville represnt colonial legacies can be contested. However this is an important contribution to the recent history of Pondicherry.

Imran Khan, History and Political Rhetoric: The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is falling apart

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

Battle of Plassey, 1757

   Imran Khan, the recently deposed Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is shaking things up in his country. Pakistan is caught in the vice like grip of two crises of its own making: the Islamic militancy or Taliban attacks from Afghanistan and the rising volume of attacks from the militants fighting the Army in Baluchistan. Added to this is the economic crisis that is inexorably leading Pakistan to an economic collapse, And Sri Lanka comes immediately to mind. China, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates have all refused to bale out the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and default of its debts is on the cards. Against this grim scenario let us see what the cricketing hero Imran Khan has been doing.

Ever since his removal from office, He has been criss crossing the country in a chopper commandeered from the Government of Khyber Pakahtunwa, where Imran Khan's PTI is in office and has addressed massive gatherings (jalsa) in Islamabad, Attock, Jallalabad, Faisalabad, and several other important cities. In spite of all the road blocks thrown up by a shaky regime, Imran Khan has succeeded in taking his message to the very heart of the Electorate. It does not take a psephologist like our own C Voter Organization to predict a substantial victory for the PTI in KP, Sind and parts of Baluchistan. In Punjab the Sheriff Family has a substantial base. Everywhere Imran Khan has been driving home the same message: betrayal of the mandate by a corrupt criminal gang out on bail. He is of course hitting out against the Sheriff Family including Nawaz who stands convicted and the present Prime Minister, Shabazz Sheriff who is out on bail. Khan's rhetoric is so impassioned that it draws immediate reaction from the crowd. The disturbing element in his political strategy is the deliberate use of Islamic Religious identity to sell his political image. Drawing on the Koran he has constructed a political theology that essentially states that a good muslim will stand with Imran Khan against traitors who conspired with internal and external enemies of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Of course, USA is singled out as the external enemy.

Imran Khan political rhetoric combines historical examples and searing contempt for the present rulers. When I was a boy Cherry Blossom was only a shoe polish. In Pakistan Cherry Blossom is the preferred term of endearment for Shabazz Sherif. Zardari, the widower of Benazir Bhutto is often spoken of as a Bimari (disease) that rhymes with Zardari. The most devastating attack is reserved for Nawaaz Sherif and Shabaaz Sheriff who are called Mir Jafer and Mir Sadiq. It is not quite clear  who is identified by these names.

In his use of History, Imran Khan is  much too careless. He repeatedly states that Siraj ud Daullah, the Nawab of Bengal, was the representative of the Mussalman Mughal rulers. Nothing can be further from the truth. The Mughals had ceased to be a factor in Indian politics by the first decade of the eighteenth century when the Mahrattas rose to prominence and were raiding territories from Punjab to Bengal. In fact Siraj ud Daullah's maternal grandfather Alivardi Khan had stopped even recognizing Mughal Hukkumat (regime). Mir Jafer was the candidate propped by  Ghasiti Begum, the widow of the late ruler who himself had seized the throne by deposing Safraz Khan. In the Battle of Plassey, Mir Jaffer held back his troops thereby Robert Clive claim his first major military victory in India. Of course, the Battle of Plassey and later the Battle of Buxar paved the way for the rule of the East India Company. Given the factional nature of loyalties in precolonial India, Mir Jaffer was not betraying his state. He was only furthering his factional agenda. Mir Sadiq, is said to have betrayed Tipu Sultan.

Imran Khan is setting fire to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. He is effectively using the themes of treachery, slavery, economic collapse, foreign debt and the War on Terror as effective weapons against the current regime. It is certain that his message resonates with the youth.