DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22459#0222
Two
June !, 1952
^Himalayan Tinier
BEHIND NEHRU'S VISIT TO KALIMPONG :
HUNTING GROUND OF FOREIGN
SPIES
| Reproduced From “Cross Road*’ of May 22, Jft-r2. |
Kalimpong, situated only 60 miles
from the border of Tibet, came into
prominence last month during Pandit
Nehru’s visit, particularly because of his
waring to the hill tribes on the border
to remain vigilant ‘for the defence and
security cf the country.’
The hill people on the border—the
Bhutias, the Lepchas^ Nepalese —to whom
the warning was delivered, live in hovels,
work as coolies in tea and cinchona
gardens, and put in twelve hours' hard
labour a day in the road construction
schemes for wages which do not exceed
fourteen annas.
Their women have to surrender
their bodies to the White planters and
their people have the questionable comlort
of seeing some of their illegitimate children
being maintained at the Graham’s Homes,
an institution established for this specific
purpose. It was visited by Pandit Nehru.
Addressing the inmates of the Homes
he said that he had heard from Lady
Mountbatten about the good work done
by the Homes and donated Rs. 15,000
,to its funds.
Nehru’s preoccupations with these
and other duties during his five-day
tour left no time for him to see communist
MLA Lai it Bahadur Kharga who wanted
to discuss urgent problems concerning
the life of the hill people.
Known to the outside world as a
health resort and an Indo-Tibetan trading
centre, Kalimpong has been the happy
hunting ground of American and British
newshounds and also those of other
nationalities out to make a fairly sensa-
tional career of lies against China and
Tibet.
Fabrications Of PTI Reuter
Natarajan, the PTI-Reutter cor-
respondent in Kalimpong, who has made
himself quite notorious in this respect,
went so far with his fabrications that
the Government of India was obliged
to intervene, and Natarajan was sub-
sequently withdrawn from Kalimpong.
Natarajan's methods of collection
of news were however rather unorthodox.
It is reported that the sources of his
“Stories” were new arrivals from Tibet,
whose life in Kalimpong Natarajan tried
to make as cheerful and agreeable as
possible with a liberal provision of,
liquor.
The Statesman correspondent and
other journalists at Kalimpong have also
been following the prescription of ‘ If
you cannot collect news, concoct news’’
with gusto.
The “discoveries” of the Statesman
correspondent are that Lhasa is is the
grip of a famine and that the Tibetans
have been fighting the Chinese in Tibet.
He describes his sources as ‘‘very reliable”,
but knowledgeable circles are of the
opinion that his sources are no more
authentic than Natarajan’s.
Since Tihei’s liberation, Kalimpong
has attracted men with scholarly inclina-
((fulfil'ucd on .0)
June !, 1952
^Himalayan Tinier
BEHIND NEHRU'S VISIT TO KALIMPONG :
HUNTING GROUND OF FOREIGN
SPIES
| Reproduced From “Cross Road*’ of May 22, Jft-r2. |
Kalimpong, situated only 60 miles
from the border of Tibet, came into
prominence last month during Pandit
Nehru’s visit, particularly because of his
waring to the hill tribes on the border
to remain vigilant ‘for the defence and
security cf the country.’
The hill people on the border—the
Bhutias, the Lepchas^ Nepalese —to whom
the warning was delivered, live in hovels,
work as coolies in tea and cinchona
gardens, and put in twelve hours' hard
labour a day in the road construction
schemes for wages which do not exceed
fourteen annas.
Their women have to surrender
their bodies to the White planters and
their people have the questionable comlort
of seeing some of their illegitimate children
being maintained at the Graham’s Homes,
an institution established for this specific
purpose. It was visited by Pandit Nehru.
Addressing the inmates of the Homes
he said that he had heard from Lady
Mountbatten about the good work done
by the Homes and donated Rs. 15,000
,to its funds.
Nehru’s preoccupations with these
and other duties during his five-day
tour left no time for him to see communist
MLA Lai it Bahadur Kharga who wanted
to discuss urgent problems concerning
the life of the hill people.
Known to the outside world as a
health resort and an Indo-Tibetan trading
centre, Kalimpong has been the happy
hunting ground of American and British
newshounds and also those of other
nationalities out to make a fairly sensa-
tional career of lies against China and
Tibet.
Fabrications Of PTI Reuter
Natarajan, the PTI-Reutter cor-
respondent in Kalimpong, who has made
himself quite notorious in this respect,
went so far with his fabrications that
the Government of India was obliged
to intervene, and Natarajan was sub-
sequently withdrawn from Kalimpong.
Natarajan's methods of collection
of news were however rather unorthodox.
It is reported that the sources of his
“Stories” were new arrivals from Tibet,
whose life in Kalimpong Natarajan tried
to make as cheerful and agreeable as
possible with a liberal provision of,
liquor.
The Statesman correspondent and
other journalists at Kalimpong have also
been following the prescription of ‘ If
you cannot collect news, concoct news’’
with gusto.
The “discoveries” of the Statesman
correspondent are that Lhasa is is the
grip of a famine and that the Tibetans
have been fighting the Chinese in Tibet.
He describes his sources as ‘‘very reliable”,
but knowledgeable circles are of the
opinion that his sources are no more
authentic than Natarajan’s.
Since Tihei’s liberation, Kalimpong
has attracted men with scholarly inclina-
((fulfil'ucd on .0)