Édouard Goubert

Initially a strongly pro-French leader, he later shifted towards the pro-merger Indian National Congress, which ultimately became the death knell for the sovereignty of France's comptoirs (trading posts) in India.

Goubert was born in Pondicherry on 29 July 1894 to a French father and Franco-Indian mother.

[7] A referendum on the future of French India was held in Chandernagore, the territory right outside of Calcutta, on 19 June 1949.

[6] By 1954, Goubert shifted his loyalty towards the pro-India faction and supported the annexation of French possessions to the Indian Union.

In March 1954, he traveled to Pondicherry and took part in an agitation demanding the merger of French India with the Indian Union.