Volunteers bearing torch-lit lanterns marched to a band’s military tunes at the Promenade Beach on Wednesday to launch Bastille Day celebrations, symbolising the French Revolution’s rallying cry for iberty, equality and fraternity.
The “Marche aux flambeaux” featured volunteers from various Franco-Indian Associations, organisations of former French soldiers, youth and women’s organisations, the Union des Français de l’Etranger, or UFE, representing overseas French citizens and the Lycée Français International de Pondichery cricket club.
This year’s French National Day celebrations, led by the French Consulate in Puducherry and Chennai, comes after two years of restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, said Lise Talbot Barré, French Consul General. Among those who participated in the event were Siva Christine, UFE president for India, and Predibane Siva, member of the Assembly of the French Abroad in Paris.
According to the Consulate, the torchlight march symbolises the friendship and solidarity between France and India, which coincidentally is celebrating its 75th Independence anniversary. It also coincides with the 60th anniversary of the handover of esrtwhile Pondicherry to India by France, marking 60 years of bilateral friendship and cooperation.
The march that began in front of the statue of Victor Schœlcher, a prominent 19th century French politician and writer, also commemorated the storming of the Bastille, a Parisian prison. This symbolic event is a tribute to the day when the population of France joined together to form a nation, overcoming the social barriers of the time, to revolt against the regime of absolute monarchy in place. The fall of the Bastille and its destruction marked the creation of the nation and the modern French rule of law, the Consulate said.
The celebrations will continue on Thursday with wreath-laying in front of the French war memorial, in the presence of representatives of the authorities from the Union Territory government, councillors of the French abroad, and the veterans associations.
In Karaikal, the Consul General will pay a public and solemn tribute to combatants, who had given their lives for France by laying wreaths at the monument of the French soldier in the presence of representatives of local authorities. In the evening at the Gandhi Thidal here, Ability Unlimited will perform “Miracle on Wheels,” a free, public performance celebrating the values of diversity and inclusion that India and France share.
According to the Consulate, the events will be an opportunity to bring together the French community of an estimated 6,000 citizens and the Indian community, around the principles of freedom, equality and fraternity, which are dear to both countries. The “14th of July fireworks” on the waterfront in front of the Consulate General office will provide the finale to the celebrations.
