Couple of days back the Puducherry CM Narayanaswamy kicked up a controversy by saying that the Union Govt wants to merge Puducherry and other areas of the Union Territory with adjoining states. It was purely a political statement during the election time, and the Centre duly denied it. Politicians , from time to time make such statements for political gain. In 1979 the then Prime Minister Morarji Desai said there was no alternative to eventual merger of the Union territory with the neighbouring states. He further ruled out any ascertaining of peoples’ mind. Hell broke out in the Union territory.
Merging of these small states would really benefit the people in general. It would save a lot of expense incurred in maintaining a big administrative set up disproportionate to the population of the states/territories. The treaty of “cession” assures all the civil servants pension from Paris. The earlier French regime has not differentiated French and other natives in the matter of salary, pension and fringe benefits like the British. Majority of the pensioners would have passed away in the last forty years and a mutually agreed solution can be worked out regarding the surviving pensioners. But it is the vested interest of the political class, cutting across party lines who stand to benefit/ exploit more by continuing the status quo. The UT assembly has a strength of 30 MLAs , plus other political appointments in the Govt and party. One time MLAs gets life time pension and other fringe benefits. He/she has to face 25,000/30,000 voters/ people in any constituency , but in the merged entity, the position would be entirely different
The process of merger of earlier French occupied Indian territories took nearly 16 years to become a reality. The broad agreement , allowing the people to decide their future was signed in 1948, Treaty of Cession on 28/05/1956 and both the legislatures of India and France ratified the treaty in 1962 and it became a “Union Territory “ in 1963. Actually “ Chandranagore” a coastal town in WB was also under French occupation in 1947, but the people have voted to merge with WB in the plebiscite and it became part of WB in 1954 itself.