Sri Aurobindo
Autobiographical Notes
and Other Writings of Historical Interest
Part Three. On Indian and World Events 1940–1950
1. Public Statements, Messages,
Letters and Telegrams
On the Integration of the French Settlements in India
1947–1950
On the Disturbances of 15 August 1947 in Pondicherry1
To
The Editor
The Statesman, Calcutta
Dated, Pondicherry, the 20th
August 1947.
Dear Sir,
There is no foundation [in]2 fact
for the rumour which we understand has been published in your columns that
Satyagraha has been offered before Sri Aurobindo Ashram. There was no Satyagraha of any kind.
There was an attack on the Ashram in which one member was stabbed to death and
others injured and Ashram buildings stoned. This would surely be a curious and
unprecedented form of Satyagraha. The attack took place on August the 15th
some hours after the Darshan, which was very successful and attended by
thousands of people, was over. The attackers were mostly professional goondas of
the town hired and organised for the purpose. We consider it as the result or
culmination of a long campaign by a political party which has been making
speeches and publishing articles and pamphlets against the Ashram and trying in
all ways to damage it in the eyes of the public for the last two years. This was
not on political grounds and the attack had nothing to do with the political
question. The Ashram is a non-political body. But there are three sections of
the people here who are violently opposed to the existence 
of the Ashram, the advocates of Dravidisthan, extreme Indian
Catholics and the Communists. Everybody in Pondicherry without exception
supports the right of self-determination for the people of French India and Sri
Aurobindo has always been a firm supporter of that right for all peoples
everywhere. Nobody here is for the “continuation of French rule”, but the people
were prepared to accept the French proposal of a free and completely autonomous
French India within the French Union. It was only when it appeared that the
reforms offered by the French Government would fall short of what was promised
that the cry arose for the immediate transfer of power and the merging of French
India in the Indian Union. Sri Aurobindo, not being a citizen of French India,
made no public declaration of his views, but privately supported the views set
forth in a manifesto of the French India Socialist party demanding the end of
colonial rule and a complete autonomy within the French Union accompanied by a
dual citizenship and a close association with the Indian Union which should
control Customs, Communications and a common system of Industry and
Commerce.3 There was therefore no ground or cause
for any Satyagraha. I am writing this as an official contradiction on behalf of
the Ashram under the instructions and with the full authority of Sri Aurobindo.
Your most sincerely
The Secretary
Sri Aurobindo Ashram
Pondicherry