The Union Territory on Tuesday celebrated the 62nd anniversary of the de facto merger of the then French establishments with the Indian Union, marking Liberation Day.
Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy unfurled the national flag and inspected the guard of honour given by police and various other contingents on the Beach Road.
He was accompanied by Chief Secretary Manoj Parida.
It was on November 1, 1954 that the then French establishments of Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam merged de facto with the Indian union, bidding farewell to the French regime.
The merger itself was democratically decided through a referendum conducted by the French administration at the border village of Kizhur near here to ascertain the wishes of the people.
Chandranagore was the first of the five enclaves which broke away by conducting a referendum in 1949 and merged with the Indian state of West Bengal.
Later, an agreement for the de facto transfer of the four remaining French settlements of Pondicherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam to India was signed on October 21, 1954, which came into effect on November 1, 1954, sixty two years ago.
The treaty was signed by the then French Ambassador Stanislas Ostrorog and the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who was also the Union Minister for External Affairs.
