Foreign Enclaves In India

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27307, 25 March 1954, Page 10

Foreign Enclaves In India

The ban on demonstrations in Pondicherry favouring cession of this and other French’ possessions to India illustrates the difficulties that have so far frustrated the agreement made by India and France in 1948. Unlike Portugal, France has expressed willingness to transfer her small scattered territories to India, provided that this is the wish of the inhabitants, and has already transferred Chandernagore, a suburb of Calcutta. France and India, however, have not been able to agree on the best way to conduct a referendum, and in the meantime pro-Indian factions have made trouble for the local authorities, without really advancing their claims. Bands of hooligans have been enlisted by both sides, and the politics of French India have been described by “ The Times ” as “ murky ”. The economic pressure applied on French India has also not been conducive to the atmosphere in which a fair vote might reasonably be taken. Perhaps India would be wise to relax the restrictions that irritate the people of French India, trusting to the development of natural commercial relations to end the anomaly of the French settlements. Even if a referendum were held now it is by no means certain that the people would be willing to renounce their French citizenship.

India has two reasons for wanting to absorb the foreign enclaves. The first is that their existence is incompatible 'with nationalist sentiment. The second, and more practical, is

that the enclaves are a gateway for smugglers, whose principal trade is in alcoholic liquor in provinces where an attempt is being made to enforce prohibition. In the case of the Portuguese settlement of Goa, the smugglers also carry gold into India, usually by swallowing it. It is reported that some smugglers can carry up to two pounds weight of gold in this way. Unlike the French, the Portuguese have no intention of considering any democratic method of dealing with Indian claims. They contend that Goa and two other tiny settlements, after 450 years of Portuguese ownership, arp still an integral part of Portugal. Here again the inhabitants are probably well enough satisfied with their present position, because their standard of living is estimated to be three times as high as standards in India. They have, however, little chance of expressing their opinion and pro-Indian activities are forbidden. It is an offence, even, to display a picture of Pandit Nehru. Portugal derives no commercial advantage from Goa, so that the only possible ulterior motive for holding so firmly to this territory is that it might be a useful base for Portugal and her allies in a war in which Pakistan, India, and Ceylon were neutral. It is much more likely that the Portuguese really do think of Goa as part of Portugal, in much the same way as the Indians think it should be Indian. After all it has been Portuguese for a long time—and it was Moslem before that.