Why Moustafa lives in India, votes for Chirac

It worked out this way because in 1962, a treaty between France and India was approved by which those living in Pondicherry at the time were asked to choose between Indian and French citizenship. Moustafa, who was 15 at the time, chose to be French.

In 1995, Moustafa was elected a Member of the High Council for French People Residing Abroad, which means he is one of the 150 people selected from all over the world to represent the French who live outside the country. Moustafa’s territory includes Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Pondicherry — that used to mean 15,000 people, now it’s down to 7,000 because half of them decided to go to France.

‘‘Even though I live here, my allegiance is to the ruling party in France. We have some preferences on who we would like to see in power in India. But as far as we are concerned these Lok Sabha elections are an internal problem,’’ says Moustafa. And so you will find the framed photograph of a beaming Moustafa with President Chirac, three-piece suit and all.

‘‘We vote for the French presidential elections from Pondicherry, either through the French Commiserate here or through mail,’’ he says. There is no campaigning, no banners, no public speeches. Just a knock on the door, some word of mouth, or as Moustafa says, ‘‘We just tell people privately to vote.’’

But his form of subtle persuasion seems to work. ‘‘In the last presidential elections, 94 per cent of the French citizens in Pondicherry voted for Chirac. I increased the number of voters by 20 per cent. The percentage of French citizens here who participated in the elections was more than 50 per cent, which was the highest in the world,’’ he says. ‘‘The other places where French reside abroad, clocked only 15 to 20 per cent.’’

What it shows, says Moustafa, is that our people have a political will. Which is why when you ask 61-year-old French national Frederic Noe her opinion of the Indian elections, she has one. ‘‘Here, it is more a politics of vengeance. The people’s welfare is pushed behind, while the parties fight each other. That is not good.’’

Noe was born in Pondicherry, but she has never ever voted an Indian leader in. If she had to?

‘‘I think Congress leader

Sonia Gandhi should come to power.’’