Francois Richier
(L), French envoy to India, appreciates a painting of
Maharaja Ranjit
Singh at French Embassy in New Delhi. Mukesh Aggarwal
Girja Shankar Kaura
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, July 18
India and France share long-standing strategic and diplomatic ties,
which the latter now wants to make stronger by going beyond these
parameters and moving towards cultural relationship by connecting dots
from the past and shared history.
France will in September 2016 commemorate historic ties it has had with Punjab by unveiling a statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh along with a statue of General Jean-François Allard, who served as the military adviser to the king of Punjab from 1822 till his death in 1839 while defending Punjab on an official assignment.
Allard was among the battery of Frenchmen serving in the army of the Maharaja and rose to become the key military adviser to the king, in the process helping him modernise his army to take on the British.
Gen Allard took major part in the creation and training of the Fauj-i-khas, the “special” or “royal” brigade of the Maharaja. Tropezian Jean-François Allard, an officer in the Napoleon’s army, was exiled in India in 1822, but his military knowledge made him the chief commander of the troops of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
During his term in India, he married Bannu Pan Dei, Princess of Chamba, who later settled down in Saint-Tropez, the picturesque city along the French Riviera. She is buried there, while Gen Allard is buried in Lahore.
The statues of all three will be put up in St Tropez along with an exhibition to highlight the India-France relationship in a new dimension. A one which would also help St Tropez promote tourism in India as despite having a population of just 4,500, it sees millions of tourists from around the world every year.
The Sikh community from England has offered to put up the statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh at St Tropez.
“This is the first-of-its-kind programme and a completely new concept. When we talk about heritage it is always about monuments and buildings. But there is a whole bunch of heritage-related issue like this which can foster new India-French relationship. French tourists love to identify with French connection in India and the same is with India. So here is an Indo-French connection that is relatively lesser known,” said François Richier, Ambassador of France to India.
Henri Prévost-Allard, Deputy Mayor for Tourism of the French city of St Tropez, who is the descendant of Gen Allard and Princess Pan Die, is in India these days to connect the dots and take back the historical pieces that he can collect. Historian and writer, he has been working towards creating closer ties between India and France for over 20 years, especially between the General’s native city of St Tropez and Punjab and the Sikh community.