Himalayan Times (1956)

August 12, 1956

Three

CUE L€MD€N LETTER

BY B. B. ROY CHOUDHURI

(Our London Correspondent)
London, August 1

It seems Colonel Nas-
ser has upset the whole
applecart of the Western
world by his bold announ-
cement of nationalisation
of the Suez Canal Com-
pany. There is no doubt
the Middle East and South
Kast Asian countries as
well as Australia and New
Zealand are also vitally
concerned by the Suez
Canal dispute, if there is
a dispute. The Britisht
French and American
Governments are accusing
Nasser in the same intem-
perate tone as Nasser
vtseB against the Western
world but the nationali-
sation of the Canal is
final and irrevocable
Within a few weeks per-
haps the world will get
a better idea whether the
withdrawal of the Anglo-
American offer of building
the Aswan Dam was a
greater folly than Nasser's
nationalisation cf the Suez
Canal. The Anglo-Ameri-
can High Dam decision
came at a moment when
the tide of opinion and
sentiment in the Middle
East was on the turn,
end for the first time
<iuring the past' year had

begun to show signs of
flowing towards the West.
More thoughtful Arabs in
Jordan Syr a and Lebanon
counted on a gradual rap-
prochement between Egypt
and the West to help in
the scablisation of the
situation in their own
countries If, as seems
probable, the Western re.
buff over the High Dam
was meant to accelerate
second thoughts among
the Arabs about the fruit-
fulness of Egyptian lea-
dership by striking hard
at Nasser's prestige, it is
likely now to have the
opposite effect, at least
for the time being. Even
those—apart from the
Iraqis—who had begun to
fear or resent the extension
of Egyptian influence aud
the effects of Egyptian
policy,1) felt that the cir-
cumstances in which the
High Dam offer was
withdrawn reflected a hy-
pocritical high-handedness,
not merely towards Egypt,
but towards Arabs gene-
rally. While dispute bet-
ween Nasser and the
Western world continues
I was staggered at the
intemperate, insolent com-

ments made in "The New
York 'Times"' against the
President of E^ypt.. "The
New York Times'' called
Nasser "a political black,
mailer" language which is
generally used by the
gutter Press of Hearst
and Beaverbrook.

Many colleagues of
Mr. Sankar Mitia#iu Lon-
don are very happy to
learn that he has been ap-
pointed Minister for Land
and Land Revenue of
West Bengal. During his
stay in London, Mr. Mitra
was very popular amongst
London-Indians and took
active part in our politi-
cal struggles for India's
freedom in those days.
He was always an ener-
getic worker at the Swaraj
House of London. I have
been asked to congratu-
late Mr. Mitra on behalf
of his London-Indian col-
leagues. We wish him
every success.

I have just returned
from a tour of Denmark
and Sweden, and was over-
whelmed by the hospita-
lity of the Danish and
Swedish people. s-i The
whole Scandinavian people
are anxious to know more
and more of India, and
every Indian visitor is
welcome. Both the Danish
and Swedish Governments
were good enough to give
me all facilities for travel-
ling all over Denmark
and Sweden. There is
( Continued c.n pagc !0 )