Himalayan Times (1959)

April 5, 1059

TIB£T AFFAIRS IN BRITISH PRESS

BY B. B. RAY CHAUDHURI

y^* ( Our Loudon Correspondent )
Loudon, March 27

Litely the Tibetans of
Kalimpong and Darjeeling
ars very muoh in the
news. Ths British Tory
Press is making big head-
lines almost every day
about the Tibetan situa-
tion and in spite of Pandit
Nehru's oateeorioal decla-
ration of non-interference
in the internal affairs of
China, "The Daily Ex-
press'.'; "The Daily Tele-
graph" and other organs
, of the British die-hards
are accusing our Prima
Minister for not exerci-
sing his moral influence
on the Chinese with a
view to stopping "the
suppression of the Tibe-
tans." The Delhi oorres.
posdents of these Journals
seem to know more about
the situation iu Tibet to-
d*y than the Government
of India, thus we get so
called first-bind news
that the~\D»lai LimVa
Potala Palace has been
raised to the ground and
. nil the valuable diamonds,
jewels and Art treasures
have been looted by the
Chinese. But I am glad
to say the Brit sh publio
taks very little notice
nowid iys of these ravings
of the die-hard Press. A

glaring example of this
is the recent Norfolk by.
election, While the pan-
dits of the Tory Press
made the conf dent fore-
cast that in view' of the
Conservative Government's
great popularity the So-
cialist candidate would
be swept aside, the fact
is the Socialists returned
with an even greater ma-
jority—a nasty smack for
British Conservatism.

The President of the
Indian Workers' Associa-
tions Great Britisn whkh
have just been oentralised
at an inaugural ceremony
by our High Commissioner,
Mrs Pandit, now claim
to be the largest organi-
sation of Indian nationals
in the ootmtry The Pre-
sident of the Association,
fcjardar Rattan Singh, re-
vealed to me at an ex-
clusive interview, the great
Passport racket & Indian
Film racket going on in
this omintry. It ha* now
been disclosed that some
Passports issued to Indian
nationals are not fully
endorsed, and there are
self styled Agents who are
exploiting Indian workers
with a view to obtaining

Passports for them. These
Agents demand fantasti-
cally large sum of money
from the workers for ob-
taining Passports from
the Consular Department
here. '1 he Association is
now demanding that all
Indian abroad should pos-
sess valid Passports issu-
ed by proper authorities.
) here have been oases in
the Courts btre that some
Indian Passports have
been faked and printed
illegally. As regards the
Indian film racket, the
Association points out
that under British Law
films oan be exhibited in
this country without pay-
ment of Entertainment
Tax provided the proce-
eds are use for charitable
or educational purposes
only A few individuals
have, however, imported
Indian films and exhibi-
ted them without paying
Duty, on the pretext that
the_j>rooexis would go to
educational and welfare
purposes, but these indi-
viduals have never ren-
dered any accounts and
the Indians nationals,
especially the Indian wor-
kers, have never reoeived
any benefit from these
Indian film importers who
at the same time demand
audacious prices of ad-
mission -

WHILE IN KALIMPCNG
STAY AT

CHANDRA5